Apparatus for transmitting broadcast signals, apparatus for receiving broadcast signals, method for transmitting broadcast signals and method for receiving broadcast signals

ABSTRACT

The present invention proposes a method of transmitting a broadcast signal. The method of transmitting the broadcast signal according to the present invention proposes a system capable of supporting a next-generation broadcast service in an environment that supports next-generation broadcasting using a terrestrial broadcast network and an Internet protocol network. In addition, the present invention proposes an efficient signaling scheme for both the terrestrial broadcasting network and the Internet protocol network in the environment that supports next-generation broadcasting.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/136,637, filed on Mar. 23, 2015, and 62/144,311, filed on Apr. 7, 2015 which are hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an apparatus for transmitting broadcast signals, an apparatus for receiving broadcast signals, a method of transmitting broadcast signals, and a method of receiving broadcast signals.

2. Discussion of the Related Art

As analog broadcast signal transmission comes to an end, various technologies for transmitting/receiving digital broadcast signals have been developed. A digital broadcast signal may include a larger amount of video/audio data than an analog broadcast signal and further include various types of additional data in addition to the video/audio data.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention is directed to an apparatus for providing a broadcast service at transmitting side and receiving side for future broadcast services and methods for providing a broadcast service at transmitting side and receiving side for future broadcast services.

That is, a digital broadcast system can provide high definition (HD) images, multi-channel audio and various additional services. However, data transmission efficiency for transmission of large amounts of data, robustness of transmission/reception networks and network flexibility in consideration of mobile reception equipment need to be improved for digital broadcast.

According to an object of the present invention, as included herein and briefly described, the present invention proposes a system for effectively supporting a next-generation broadcast service in an environment that supports next-generation hybrid broadcast using a terrestrial broadcast network and an Internet protocol (IP) network, and a related signaling scheme.

The present invention proposes a method of efficiently providing hybrid broadcast using both a broadcast network and an IP network.

The present invention proposes a method of providing application-based enhancement based on an application for a basic broadcast service.

The present invention proposes a method of providing application-based enhancement in synchronization with a broadcast service.

The present invention proposes architecture according to various protocols between a primary device (PD) and a companion device (CD), and a communication scheme between applications.

The present invention proposes architecture and a signaling scheme for effectively delivering information about an electronic service guide (ESG), an emergency alert system (EAS), etc. from a PD side to a CD side.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principle of the invention.

FIG. 1 illustrates a receiver protocol stack according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates a relation between the SLT and SLS according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates an SLT according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates SLS bootstrapping and a service discovery process according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates a USBD fragment for ROUTE/DASH according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 illustrates an S-TSID fragment for ROUTE/DASH according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 illustrates a USBD/USD fragment for MMT according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 illustrates a link layer protocol architecture according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 illustrates a structure of a base header of a link layer packet according to an embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, the structure of the header will be described.

FIG. 10 illustrates a structure of an additional header of a link layer packet according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 illustrates a structure of an additional header of a link layer packet according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 illustrates a header structure of a link layer packet for an MPEG-2 TS packet and an encapsulation process thereof according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example of adaptation modes in IP header compression according to an embodiment of the present invention (transmitting side).

FIG. 14 illustrates a link mapping table (LMT) and an RoHC-U description table according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 illustrates a structure of a link layer on a transmitter side according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 illustrates a structure of a link layer on a receiver side according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17 illustrates a configuration of signaling transmission through a link layer according to an embodiment of the present invention (transmitting/receiving sides).

FIG. 18 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a broadcast signal transmission apparatus for future broadcast services according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 19 is a block diagram illustrating a bit interleaved coding & modulation (BICM) block according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 20 is a block diagram illustrating a BICM block according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating a bit interleaving process of physical layer signalling (PLS) according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 22 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a broadcast signal reception apparatus for future broadcast services according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating a signaling hierarchy structure of a frame according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 24 is a table illustrating PLS1 data according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 25 is a table illustrating PLS2 data according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 26 is a table illustrating PLS2 data according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 27 is a diagram illustrating a logical structure of a frame according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 28 is a diagram illustrating PLS mapping according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 29 is a diagram illustrating time interleaving according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 30 is a diagram illustrating a basic operation of a twisted row-column block interleaver according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 31 is a diagram illustrating an operation of a twisted row-column block interleaver according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 32 is a block diagram illustrating an interlaving address generator including a main pseudo-random binary sequence (PRBS) generator and a sub-PRBS generator according to each FFT mode according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 33 is a diagram illustrating a main PRBS used for all FFT modes according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 34 is a diagram illustrating a sub-PRBS used for FFT modes and an interleaving address for frequency interleaving according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 35 is a diagram illustrating a write operation of a time interleaver according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 36 is a table illustrating an interleaving type applied according to the number of PLPs.

FIG. 37 is a block diagram including a first example of a structure of a hybrid time interleaver.

FIG. 38 is a block diagram including a second example of the structure of the hybrid time interleaver.

FIG. 39 is a block diagram including a first example of a structure of a hybrid time deinterleaver.

FIG. 40 is a block diagram including a second example of the structure of the hybrid time deinterleaver.

FIG. 41 illustrates an application-related broadcast service according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 42 illustrates a part of an ApplicationList element according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 43 illustrates another part of the ApplicationList element according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 44 illustrates an event message table (EMT) according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 45 illustrates a method of providing the broadcast service by a transmitting side according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 46 illustrates an apparatus for providing the broadcast service by the transmitting side according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 47 illustrates an AST transmitted through a broadcast network according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 48 illustrates an AST transmitted through a broadband network according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 49 illustrates an event transmitted in the form of an EventStream element through the broadcast network according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 50 illustrates an event transmitted in the form of an emsg box through the broadcast network according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 51 illustrates an event transmitted in the form of an EventStream element through the broadband network according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 52 illustrates an event transmitted in the form of an emsg box through the broadband network according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 53 illustrates an API and an event listener according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 54 is a diagram illustrating a hierarchical signaling structure according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 55 is a diagram illustrating a transmission path of an FIT according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 56 is a diagram illustrating a process for bootstrapping an SLS using an FIT according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 57 is a diagram illustrating extension of 3DPP MBMS signaling for a broadcast system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 58 is a diagram illustrating a protocol stack of a broadcast system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 59 is a diagram illustrating a relationship of a service management layer, a delivery layer, and physical layer entities according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 60 is a diagram illustrating a signaling structure of a broadcast system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 61 is a diagram illustrating an FIT according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 62 is a diagram illustrating a position of a descriptor to be included in signaling for a broadcast system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 63 is a diagram illustrating broadcast_signaling_location_descriptor( ) according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 64 is a diagram illustrating the meaning of inet_signaling_location_descriptor( ) and URL_type information according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 65 is a diagram illustrating a query term using URL_bytes information of inet_signaling_location_descriptor( ) according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 66 is a diagram illustrating capability_descriptor( ) according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 67 is a diagram illustrating an FIT defied in XML according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 68 is a diagram illustrating a data model for a linear service according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 69 is a diagram illustrating USBD according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 70 is a diagram illustrating S-TSID according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 71 is a diagram illustrating ATSC_physical_layer_pipe_identifier_descriptor( ) according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 72 is a diagram illustrating a hierarchical signaling structure of an ATSC3.0 system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 73 is a diagram illustrating flow of a rapid channel scan operation according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 74 is a diagram illustrating flow of an entire channel scanning operation according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 75 is a diagram illustrating a procedure for acquiring a service in pure broadcast according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 76 is a diagram illustrating a procedure for acquiring a service through a plurality of ROUTE sessions in pure broadcast according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 77 is a diagram illustrating a procedure for bootstrapping electronic service guide (ESG) through a broadband network according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 78 is a diagram illustrating a procedure for acquiring a service through broadcast and broadband according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 79 is a diagram illustrating signaling for an operation for changing reception of a service between broadcast and a broadband according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 80 is a diagram illustrating signaling of receiver capability information according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 81 is a diagramming illustrating the meaning of a LCT transport object identifier (TOI) field and information included in the field for filtering of a fragment according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 82 is a diagram illustrating MetadataEnvelope of XML form for applying template-based compression to signaling according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 83 is a diagram illustrating a compression procedure of a template-based signaling fragment according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 84 is a diagram illustrating broadcast_signaling_location_descriptor( ) according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 85 illustrates a method of providing a broadcast service (transmitting side) according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 86 is a diagram illustrating an apparatus for providing a broadcast service (transmitting side) according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The detailed description, which will be given below with reference to the accompanying drawings, is intended to explain exemplary embodiments of the present invention, rather than to show the only embodiments that may be implemented according to the present invention. The following detailed description includes specific details in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without such specific details.

Although most terms used in the present invention have been selected from general ones widely used in the art, some terms have been arbitrarily selected by the applicant and their meanings are explained in detail in the following description as needed. Thus, the present invention should be understood based upon the intended meanings of the terms rather than their simple names or meanings.

The present invention provides apparatuses and methods for transmitting and receiving broadcast signals for future broadcast services. Future broadcast services according to an embodiment of the present invention include a terrestrial broadcast service, a mobile broadcast service, a UHDTV service, etc. The present invention may process broadcast signals for the future broadcast services through non-Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) or MIMO according to one embodiment. A non-MIMO scheme according to an embodiment of the present invention may include a Multiple Input Single Output (MISO) scheme, a Single Input Single Output (SISO) scheme, etc.

FIG. 1 illustrates a receiver protocol stack according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Two schemes may be used in broadcast service delivery through a broadcast network.

In a first scheme, media processing units (MPUs) are transmitted using an MMT protocol (MMTP) based on MPEG media transport (MMT). In a second scheme, dynamic adaptive streaming over HTTP (DASH) segments may be transmitted using real time object delivery over unidirectional transport (ROUTE) based on MPEG DASH.

Non-timed content including NRT media, EPG data, and other files is delivered with ROUTE. Signaling may be delivered over MMTP and/or ROUTE, while bootstrap signaling information is provided by the means of the Service List Table (SLT).

In hybrid service delivery, MPEG DASH over HTTP/TCP/IP is used on the broadband side. Media files in ISO Base Media File Format (BMFF) are used as the delivery, media encapsulation and synchronization format for both broadcast and broadband delivery. Here, hybrid service delivery may refer to a case in which one or more program elements are delivered through a broadband path.

Services are delivered using three functional layers. These are the Physical layer, the Delivery layer and the Service Management layer. The Physical layer provides the mechanism by which signaling, service announcement and IP packet streams are transported over the Broadcast Physical layer and/or Broadband Physical layer. The Delivery layer provides object and object flow transport functionality. It is enabled by the MMTP or the ROUTE protocol, operating on a UDP/IP multicast over the Broadcast Physical layer, and enabled by the HTTP protocol on a TCP/IP unicast over the Broadband Physical layer. The Service Management layer enables any type of service, such as linear TV or HTML5 application service, to be carried by the underlying Delivery and Physical layers.

In this figure, a protocol stack part on a broadcast side may be divided into a part transmitted through the SLT and the MMTP, and a part transmitted through ROUTE.

The SLT may be encapsulated through UDP and IP layers. Here, the SLT will be described below. The MMTP may transmit data formatted in an MPU format defined in MMT, and signaling information according to the MMTP. The data may be encapsulated through the UDP and IP layers. ROUTE may transmit data formatted in a DASH segment form, signaling information, and non-timed data such as NRT data, etc. The data may be encapsulated through the UDP and IP layers. According to a given embodiment, some or all processing according to the UDP and IP layers may be omitted. Here, the illustrated signaling information may be signaling information related to a service.

The part transmitted through the SLT and the MMTP and the part transmitted through ROUTE may be processed in the UDP and IP layers, and then encapsulated again in a data link layer. The link layer will be described below. Broadcast data processed in the link layer may be multicast as a broadcast signal through processes such as encoding/interleaving, etc. in the physical layer.

In this figure, a protocol stack part on a broadband side may be transmitted through HTTP as described above. Data formatted in a DASH segment form, signaling information, NRT information, etc. may be transmitted through HTTP. Here, the illustrated signaling information may be signaling information related to a service. The data may be processed through the TCP layer and the IP layer, and then encapsulated into the link layer. According to a given embodiment, some or all of the TCP, the IP, and the link layer may be omitted. Broadband data processed thereafter may be transmitted by unicast in the broadband through a process for transmission in the physical layer.

Service can be a collection of media components presented to the user in aggregate; components can be of multiple media types; a Service can be either continuous or intermittent; a Service can be Real Time or Non-Real Time; Real Time Service can consist of a sequence of TV programs.

FIG. 2 illustrates a relation between the SLT and SLS according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Service Signaling provides service discovery and description information, and comprises two functional components: Bootstrap signaling via the Service List Table (SLT) and the Service Layer Signaling (SLS). These represent the information which is necessary to discover and acquire user services. The SLT enables the receiver to build a basic service list, and bootstrap the discovery of the SLS for each service.

The SLT can enable very rapid acquisition of basic service information. The SLS enables the receiver to discover and access services and their content components. Details of the SLT and SLS will be described below.

As described in the foregoing, the SLT may be transmitted through UDP/IP. In this instance, according to a given embodiment, data corresponding to the SLT may be delivered through the most robust scheme in this transmission.

The SLT may have access information for accessing SLS delivered by the ROUTE protocol. In other words, the SLT may be bootstrapped into SLS according to the ROUTE protocol. The SLS is signaling information positioned in an upper layer of ROUTE in the above-described protocol stack, and may be delivered through ROUTE/UDP/IP. The SLS may be transmitted through one of LCT sessions included in a ROUTE session. It is possible to access a service component corresponding to a desired service using the SLS.

In addition, the SLT may have access information for accessing an MMT signaling component delivered by MMTP. In other words, the SLT may be bootstrapped into SLS according to the MMTP. The SLS may be delivered by an MMTP signaling message defined in MMT. It is possible to access a streaming service component (MPU) corresponding to a desired service using the SLS. As described in the foregoing, in the present invention, an NRT service component is delivered through the ROUTE protocol, and the SLS according to the MMTP may include information for accessing the ROUTE protocol. In broadband delivery, the SLS is carried over HTTP(S)/TCP/IP.

FIG. 3 illustrates an SLT according to an embodiment of the present invention.

First, a description will be given of a relation among respective logical entities of service management, delivery, and a physical layer.

Services may be signaled as being one of two basic types. First type is a linear audio/video or audio-only service that may have an app-based enhancement. Second type is a service whose presentation and composition is controlled by a downloaded application that is executed upon acquisition of the service. The latter can be called an “app-based” service.

The rules regarding presence of ROUTE/LCT sessions and/or MMTP sessions for carrying the content components of a service may be as follows.

For a broadcast delivery of a Linear service without app-based enhancement, the service's content components can be carried by either (but not both): (1) One or more ROUTE/LCT sessions, or (2) One or more MMTP sessions.

For broadcast delivery of a Linear service with app-based enhancement, the service's content components can be carried by: (1) One or more ROUTE/LCT sessions, and (2) Zero or more MMTP sessions.

In certain embodiments, use of both MMTP and ROUTE for streaming media components in the same service may not be allowed.

For broadcast delivery of an App-based service, the service's content components can be carried by one or more ROUTE/LCT sessions.

Each ROUTE session comprises one or more LCT sessions which carry as a whole, or in part, the content components that make up the service. In streaming services delivery, an LCT session may carry an individual component of a user service such as an audio, video or closed caption stream. Streaming media is formatted as DASH Segments.

Each MMTP session comprises one or more MMTP packet flows which carry MMT signaling messages or as a whole, or in part, the content component. An MMTP packet flow may carry MMT signaling messages or components formatted as MPUs.

For the delivery of NRT User Services or system metadata, an LCT session carries file-based content items. These content files may consist of continuous (time-based) or discrete (non-time-based) media components of an NRT service, or metadata such as Service Signaling or ESG fragments. Delivery of system metadata such as Service Signaling or ESG fragments may also be achieved through the Signaling Message mode of MMTP.

A Broadcast Stream is the abstraction for an RF Channel, which is defined in terms of a carrier frequency centered within a specified bandwidth. It is identified by the pair [geographic area, frequency]. A Physical Layer Pipe (PLP) corresponds to a portion of the RF channel. Each PLP has certain modulation and coding parameters. It is identified by a PLP identifier (PLPID), which is unique within the Broadcast Stream it belongs to. Here, PLP can be referred to as DP (Data Pipe).

Each service is identified by two forms of service identifier: a compact form that is used in the SLT and is unique only within the broadcast area, and a globally unique form that is used in the SLS and the ESG. A ROUTE Session is identified by a source IP Address, destination IP Address and destination port number. An LCT session (associated with the service component(s) it carries) is identified by a Transport Session Identifier (TSI) which is unique within the scope of the parent ROUTE session. Properties common to the LCT sessions, and certain properties unique to individual LCT sessions, are given in a ROUTE signaling structure called a Service-based Transport Session Instance Description (S-TSID), which is part of the Service Layer Signaling. Each LCT session is carried over a single Physical Layer Pipe. According to a given embodiment, one LCT session may be transmitted through a plurality of PLPs. Different LCT sessions of a ROUTE session may or may not be contained in different Physical Layer Pipes. Here, the ROUTE session may be delivered through a plurality of PLPs. The properties described in the S-TSID include the TSI value and PLPID for each LCT session, descriptors for the delivery objects/files, and Application Layer FEC parameters.

A MMTP Session is identified by destination IP Address and destination port number. An MMTP packet flow (associated with the service component(s) it carries) is identified by a packet_id which is unique within the scope of the parent MMTP session. Properties common to each MMTP packet flow, and certain properties of MMTP packet flows, are given in the SLT. Properties for each MMTP session are given by MMT signaling messages, which may be carried within the MMTP session. Different MMTP packet flows of a MMTP session may or may not be contained in different Physical Layer Pipes. Here, the MMTP session may be delivered through a plurality of PLPs. The properties described in the MMT signaling messages include the packet_id value and PLPID for each MMTP packet flow. Here, the MMT signaling messages may have a form defined in MMT, or have a deformed form according to embodiments to be described below.

Hereinafter, a description will be given of low level signaling (LLS).

Signaling information which is carried in the payload of IP packets with a well-known address/port dedicated to this function is referred to as Low Level Signaling (LLS). The IP address and the port number may be differently configured depending on embodiments. In one embodiment, LLS can be transported in IP packets with address 224.0.23.60 and destination port 4937/udp. LLS may be positioned in a portion expressed by “SLT” on the above-described protocol stack. However, according to a given embodiment, the LLS may be transmitted through a separate physical channel (dedicated channel) in a signal frame without being subjected to processing of the UDP/IP layer.

UDP/IP packets that deliver LLS data may be formatted in a form referred to as an LLS table. A first byte of each UDP/IP packet that delivers the LLS data may correspond to a start of the LLS table. The maximum length of any LLS table is limited by the largest IP packet that can be delivered from the PHY layer, 65,507 bytes.

The LLS table may include an LLS table ID field that identifies a type of the LLS table, and an LLS table version field that identifies a version of the LLS table. According to a value indicated by the LLS table ID field, the LLS table may include the above-described SLT or a rating region table (RRT). The RRT may have information about content advisory rating.

Hereinafter, the SLT will be described. LLS can be signaling information which supports rapid channel scans and bootstrapping of service acquisition by the receiver, and SLT can be a table of signaling information which is used to build a basic service listing and provide bootstrap discovery of SLS.

The function of the SLT is similar to that of the Program Association Table (PAT) in MPEG-2 Systems, and the Fast Information Channel (FIC) found in ATSC Systems. For a receiver first encountering the broadcast emission, this is the place to start. SLT supports a rapid channel scan which allows a receiver to build a list of all the services it can receive, with their channel name, channel number, etc., and SLT provides bootstrap information that allows a receiver to discover the SLS for each service. For ROUTE/DASH-delivered services, the bootstrap information includes the destination IP address and destination port of the LCT session that carries the SLS. For MMT/MPU-delivered services, the bootstrap information includes the destination IP address and destination port of the MMTP session carrying the SLS.

The SLT supports rapid channel scans and service acquisition by including the following information about each service in the broadcast stream. First, the SLT can include information necessary to allow the presentation of a service list that is meaningful to viewers and that can support initial service selection via channel number or up/down selection. Seconds, the SLT can include information necessary to locate the Service Layer Signaling for each service listed. That is, the SLT may include access information related to a location at which the SLS is delivered.

The illustrated SLT according to the present embodiment is expressed as an XML document having an SLT root element. According to a given embodiment, the SLT may be expressed in a binary format or an XML document.

The SLT root element of the SLT illustrated in the figure may include @bsid, @sltSectionVersion, @sltSectionNumber, @totalSltSectionNumbers, @language, @capabilities, InetSigLoc and/or Service. According to a given embodiment, the SLT root element may further include @providerId. According to a given embodiment, the SLT root element may not include @language.

The service element may include @serviceId, @SLTserviceSeqNumber, @protected, @majorChannelNo, @minorChannelNo, @serviceCategory, @shortServiceName, @hidden, @slsProtocolType, BroadcastSignaling, @slsPlpId, @slsDestinationIpAddress, @slsDestinationUdpPort, @slsSourceIpAddress, @slsMajorProtocolVersion, @SlsMinorProtocolVersion, @serviceLanguage, @broadbandAccessRequired, @capabilities and/or InetSigLoc.

According to a given embodiment, an attribute or an element of the SLT may be added/changed/deleted. Each element included in the SLT may additionally have a separate attribute or element, and some attribute or elements according to the present embodiment may be omitted. Here, a field which is marked with @ may correspond to an attribute, and a field which is not marked with @ may correspond to an element.

@bsid is an identifier of the whole Broadcast Stream. The value of BSID may be unique on a regional level.

@providerId can be an index of broadcaster that is using part or all of this broadcast stream. This is an optional attribute. When it's not present, it means that this broadcast stream is being used by one broadcaster. @providerId is not illustrated in the figure.

@sltSectionVersion can be a version number of the SLT section. The sltSectionVersion can be incremented by 1 when a change in the information carried within the slt occurs. When it reaches maximum value, it wraps around to 0.

@sltSectionNumber can be the number, counting from 1, of this section of the SLT. In other words, @sltSectionNumber may correspond to a section number of the SLT section. When this field is not used, @sltSectionNumber may be set to a default value of 1.

@totalSltSectionNumbers can be the total number of sections (that is, the section with the highest sltSectionNumber) of the SLT of which this section is part. sltSectionNumber and totalSltSectionNumbers together can be considered to indicate “Part M of N” of one portion of the SLT when it is sent in fragments. In other words, when the SLT is transmitted, transmission through fragmentation may be supported. When this field is not used, @totalSltSectionNumbers may be set to a default value of 1. A case in which this field is not used may correspond to a case in which the SLT is not transmitted by being fragmented.

@language can indicate primary language of the services included in this slt instance. According to a given embodiment, a value of this field may have be a three-character language code defined in the ISO. This field may be omitted.

@capabilities can indicate required capabilities for decoding and meaningfully presenting the content for all the services in this slt instance.

InetSigLoc can provide a URL telling the receiver where it can acquire any requested type of data from external server(s) via broadband. This element may include @urlType as a lower field. According to a value of the @urlType field, a type of a URL provided by InetSigLoc may be indicated. According to a given embodiment, when the @urlType field has a value of 0, InetSigLoc may provide a URL of a signaling server. When the @urlType field has a value of 1, InetSigLoc may provide a URL of an ESG server. When the @urlType field has other values, the field may be reserved for future use.

The service field is an element having information about each service, and may correspond to a service entry. Service element fields corresponding to the number of services indicated by the SLT may be present. Hereinafter, a description will be given of a lower attribute/element of the service field.

@serviceId can be an integer number that uniquely identify this Service within the scope of this Broadcast area. According to a given embodiment, a scope of @serviceId may be changed. SLTserviceSeqNumber can be an integer number that indicates the sequence number of the SLT service information with service ID equal to the serviceId attribute above. SLTserviceSeqNumber value can start at 0 for each service and can be incremented by 1 every time any attribute in this Service element is changed. If no attribute values are changed compared to the previous Service element with a particular value of ServiceID then SLTserviceSeqNumber would not be incremented. The SLTserviceSeqNumber field wraps back to 0 after reaching the maximum value.

@protected is flag information which may indicate whether one or more components for significant reproduction of the service are in a protected state. When set to “1” (true), that one or more components necessary for meaningful presentation is protected. When set to “0” (false), this flag indicates that no components necessary for meaningful presentation of the service are protected. Default value is false.

@majorChannelNo is an integer number representing the “major” channel number of the service. An example of the field may have a range of 1 to 999.

@minorChannelNo is an integer number representing the “minor” channel number of the service. An example of the field may have a range of 1 to 999.

@serviceCategory can indicate the category of this service. This field may indicate a type that varies depending on embodiments. According to a given embodiment, when this field has values of 1, 2, and 3, the values may correspond to a linear A/V service, a linear audio only service, and an app-based service, respectively. When this field has a value of 0, the value may correspond to a service of an undefined category. When this field has other values except for 1, 2, and 3, the field may be reserved for future use. @shortServiceName can be a short string name of the Service.

@hidden can be boolean value that when present and set to “true” indicates that the service is intended for testing or proprietary use, and is not to be selected by ordinary TV receivers. The default value is “false” when not present.

@slsProtocolType can be an attribute indicating the type of protocol of Service Layer Signaling used by this service. This field may indicate a type that varies depending on embodiments. According to a given embodiment, when this field has values of 1 and 2, protocols of SLS used by respective corresponding services may be ROUTE and MMTP, respectively. When this field has other values except for 0, the field may be reserved for future use. This field may be referred to as @slsProtocol.

BroadcastSignaling and lower attributes/elements thereof may provide information related to broadcast signaling. When the BroadcastSignaling element is not present, the child element InetSigLoc of the parent Service element can be present and its attribute urlType includes URL_type 0x00 (URL to signaling server). In this case attribute url supports the query parameter svc=<service_id> where service_id corresponds to the serviceId attribute for the parent Service element.

Alternatively when the BroadcastSignaling element is not present, the element InetSigLoc can be present as a child element of the slt root element and the attribute urlType of that InetSigLoc element includes URL_type 0x00 (URL to signaling server). In this case attribute url for URL_type 0x00 supports the query parameter svc=<service_id> where service_id corresponds to the serviceId attribute for the parent Service element.

@slsPlpld can be a string representing an integer number indicating the PLP ID of the physical layer pipe carrying the SLS for this service.

@slsDestinationIpAddress can be a string containing the dotted-IPv4 destination address of the packets carrying SLS data for this service.

@slsDestinationUdpPort can be a string containing the port number of the packets carrying SLS data for this service. As described in the foregoing, SLS bootstrapping may be performed by destination IP/UDP information.

@slsSourceIpAddress can be a string containing the dotted-IPv4 source address of the packets carrying SLS data for this service.

@slsMajorProtocolVersion can be major version number of the protocol used to deliver the Service Layer Signaling for this service. Default value is 1.

@SlsMinorProtocolVersion can be minor version number of the protocol used to deliver the Service Layer Signalling for this service. Default value is 0.

@serviceLanguage can be a three-character language code indicating the primary language of the service. A value of this field may have a form that varies depending on embodiments.

@broadbandAccessRequired can be a Boolean indicating that broadband access is required for a receiver to make a meaningful presentation of the service. Default value is false. When this field has a value of True, the receiver needs to access a broadband for significant service reproduction, which may correspond to a case of hybrid service delivery.

@capabilities can represent required capabilities for decoding and meaningfully presenting the content for the service with service ID equal to the serviceId attribute above.

InetSigLoc can provide a URL for access to signaling or announcement information via broadband, if available. Its datatype can be an extension of the anyURL datatype, adding an @urlType attribute that indicates what the URL gives access to. An @urlType field of this field may indicate the same meaning as that of the @urlType field of InetSigLoc described above. When an InetSigLoc element of attribute URL_type 0x00 is present as an element of the SLT, it can be used to make HTTP requests for signaling metadata. The HTTP POST message body may include a service term. When the InetSigLoc element appears at the section level, the service term is used to indicate the service to which the requested signaling metadata objects apply. If the service term is not present, then the signaling metadata objects for all services in the section are requested. When the InetSigLoc appears at the service level, then no service term is needed to designate the desired service. When an InetSigLoc element of attribute URL_type 0x01 is provided, it can be used to retrieve ESG data via broadband. If the element appears as a child element of the service element, then the URL can be used to retrieve ESG data for that service. if the element appears as a child element of the SLT element, then the URL can be used to retrieve ESG data for all services in that section.

In another example of the SLT, @sltSectionVersion, @sltSectionNumber, @totalSltSectionNumbers and/or @language fields of the SLT may be omitted.

In addition, the above-described InetSigLoc field may be replaced by @sltInetSigUri and/or @sltInetEsgUri field. The two fields may include the URI of the signaling server and URI information of the ESG server, respectively. The InetSigLoc field corresponding to a lower field of the SLT and the InetSigLoc field corresponding to a lower field of the service field may be replaced in a similar manner.

The suggested default values may vary depending on embodiments. An illustrated “use” column relates to the respective fields. Here, “1” may indicate that a corresponding field is an essential field, and “0 . . . 1” may indicate that a corresponding field is an optional field.

FIG. 4 illustrates SLS bootstrapping and a service discovery process according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, SLS will be described.

SLS can be signaling which provides information for discovery and acquisition of services and their content components.

For ROUTE/DASH, the SLS for each service describes characteristics of the service, such as a list of its components and where to acquire them, and the receiver capabilities required to make a meaningful presentation of the service. In the ROUTE/DASH system, the SLS includes the User Service Bundle Description (USBD), the S-TSID and the DASH Media Presentation Description (MPD). Here, USBD or user service description (USD) is one of SLS XML fragments, and may function as a signaling herb that describes specific descriptive information. USBD/USD may be extended beyond 3GPP MBMS. Details of USBD/USD will be described below.

The Service Signaling focuses on basic attributes of the service itself, especially those attributes needed to acquire the service. Properties of the service and programming that are intended for viewers appear as Service Announcement, or ESG data.

Having separate Service Signaling for each service permits a receiver to acquire the appropriate SLS for a service of interest without the need to parse the entire SLS carried within a Broadcast Stream.

For optional broadband delivery of Service Signaling, the SLT can include HTTP URLs where the Service Signaling files can be obtained, as described above.

LLS is used for bootstrapping SLS acquisition, and subsequently, the SLS is used to acquire service components delivered on either ROUTE sessions or MMTP sessions. The described figure illustrates the following signaling sequences. Receiver starts acquiring the SLT described above. Each service identified by service_id delivered over ROUTE sessions provides SLS bootstrapping information: PLPID(#1), source IP address (sIP1), destination IP address (dIP1), and destination port number (dPort1). Each service identified by service_id delivered over MMTP sessions provides SLS bootstrapping information: PLPID(#2), destination IP address (dIP2), and destination port number (dPort2).

For streaming services delivery using ROUTE, the receiver can acquire SLS fragments carried over the IP/UDP/LCT session and PLP; whereas for streaming services delivery using MMTP, the receiver can acquire SLS fragments carried over an MMTP session and PLP. For service delivery using ROUTE, these SLS fragments include USBD/USD fragments, S-TSID fragments, and MPD fragments. They are relevant to one service. USBD/USD fragments describes service layer properties and provide URI references to S-TSID fragments and URI references to MPD fragments. In other words, the USBD/USD may refer to S-TSID and MPD. For service delivery using MMTP, the USBD references the MMT Signaling's MPT Message, the MP Table of which provides identification of Package ID and location information for assets belonging to the service. Here, an asset is a multimedia data entity, and may refer to a data entity which is combined into one unique ID and is used to generate one multimedia presentation. The asset may correspond to a service component included in one service. The MPT message is a message having the MP table of MMT. Here, the MP table may be an MMT package table having information about content and an MMT asset. Details may be similar to a definition in MMT. Here, media presentation may correspond to a collection of data that establishes bounded/unbounded presentation of media content.

The S-TSID fragment provides component acquisition information associated with one service and mapping between DASH Representations found in the MPD and in the TSI corresponding to the component of the service. The S-TSID can provide component acquisition information in the form of a TSI and the associated DASH Representation identifier, and PLPID carrying DASH Segments associated with the DASH Representation. By the PLPID and TSI values, the receiver collects the audio/video components from the service and begins buffering DASH Media Segments then applies the appropriate decoding processes.

For USBD listing service components delivered on MMTP sessions, as illustrated by “Service #2” in the described figure, the receiver also acquires an MPT message with matching MMT_package_id to complete the SLS. An MPT message provides the full list of service components comprising a service and the acquisition information for each component. Component acquisition information includes MMTP session information, the PLPID carrying the session and the packet_id within that session.

According to a given embodiment, for example, in ROUTE, two or more S-TSID fragments may be used. Each fragment may provide access information related to LCT sessions delivering content of each service.

In ROUTE, S-TSID, USBD/USD, MPD, or an LCT session delivering S-TSID, USBD/USD or MPD may be referred to as a service signaling channel. In MMTP, USBD/UD, an MMT signaling message, or a packet flow delivering the MMTP or USBD/UD may be referred to as a service signaling channel.

Unlike the illustrated example, one ROUTE or MMTP session may be delivered through a plurality of PLPs. In other words, one service may be delivered through one or more PLPs. As described in the foregoing, one LCT session may be delivered through one PLP. Unlike the figure, according to a given embodiment, components included in one service may be delivered through different ROUTE sessions. In addition, according to a given embodiment, components included in one service may be delivered through different MMTP sessions. According to a given embodiment, components included in one service may be delivered separately through a ROUTE session and an MMTP session. Although not illustrated, components included in one service may be delivered via broadband (hybrid delivery).

FIG. 5 illustrates a USBD fragment for ROUTE/DASH according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, a description will be given of SLS in delivery based on ROUTE.

Service Layer Signaling provides detailed technical information to the receiver to enable the discovery and access of services and their content components. It can include a set of XML-encoded metadata fragments carried over a dedicated LCT session. That LCT session can be acquired using the bootstrap information contained in the SLT as described above. The SLS is defined on a per-service level, and it describes the characteristics and access information of the service, such as a list of its content components and how to acquire them, and the receiver capabilities required to make a meaningful presentation of the service. In the ROUTE/DASH system, for linear services delivery, the SLS consists of the following metadata fragments: USBD, S-TSID and the DASH MPD. The SLS fragments can be delivered on a dedicated LCT transport session with TSI=0. According to a given embodiment, a TSI of a particular LCT session (dedicated LCT session) in which an SLS fragment is delivered may have a different value. According to a given embodiment, an LCT session in which an SLS fragment is delivered may be signaled using the SLT or another scheme.

ROUTE/DASH Service Layer Signaling can include the User Service Bundle Description (USBD) and Service-based Transport Session Instance Description (S-TSID) metadata fragments. These service signaling fragments are applicable to both linear and application-based services. The USBD fragment contains service identification, device capabilities information, references to other SLS fragments required to access the service and constituent media components, and metadata to enable the receiver to determine the transport mode (broadcast and/or broadband) of service components. The S-TSID fragment, referenced by the USBD, provides transport session descriptions for the one or more ROUTE/LCT sessions in which the media content components of a service are delivered, and descriptions of the delivery objects carried in those LCT sessions. The USBD and S-TSID will be described below.

In streaming content signaling in ROUTE-based delivery, a streaming content signaling component of SLS corresponds to an MPD fragment. The MPD is typically associated with linear services for the delivery of DASH Segments as streaming content. The MPD provides the resource identifiers for individual media components of the linear/streaming service in the form of Segment URLs, and the context of the identified resources within the Media Presentation. Details of the MPD will be described below.

In app-based enhancement signaling in ROUTE-based delivery, app-based enhancement signaling pertains to the delivery of app-based enhancement components, such as an application logic file, locally-cached media files, an network content items, or a notification stream. An application can also retrieve locally-cached data over a broadband connection when available.

Hereinafter, a description will be given of details of USBD/USD illustrated in the figure.

The top level or entry point SLS fragment is the USBD fragment. An illustrated USBD fragment is an example of the present invention, basic fields of the USBD fragment not illustrated in the figure may be additionally provided according to a given embodiment. As described in the foregoing, the illustrated USBD fragment has an extended form, and may have fields added to a basic configuration.

The illustrated USBD may have a bundleDescription root element. The bundleDescription root element may have a userServiceDescription element. The userServiceDescription element may correspond to an instance for one service.

The userServiceDescription element may include @serviceId, @atsc:serviceId, @atsc:serviceStatus, @atsc:fullMPDUri, @atsc:sTSIDUri, name, serviceLanguage, atsc:capabilityCode and/or deliveryMethod.

@serviceId can be a globally unique URI that identifies a service, unique within the scope of the BSID. This parameter can be used to link to ESG data (Service@globalServiceID).

@atsc:serviceId is a reference to corresponding service entry in LLS(SLT). The value of this attribute is the same value of serviceId assigned to the entry.

@atsc:serviceStatus can specify the status of this service. The value indicates whether this service is active or inactive. When set to “1” (true), that indicates service is active. When this field is not used, @atsc:serviceStatus may be set to a default value of 1.

@atsc:fullMPDUri can reference an MPD fragment which contains descriptions for contents components of the service delivered over broadcast and optionally, also over broadband.

@atsc:sTSIDUri can reference the S-TSID fragment which provides access related parameters to the Transport sessions carrying contents of this service.

name can indicate name of the service as given by the lang attribute. name element can include lang attribute, which indicating language of the service name. The language can be specified according to XML datatypes.

serviceLanguage can represent available languages of the service. The language can be specified according to XML datatypes.

atsc:capabilityCode can specify the capabilities required in the receiver to be able to create a meaningful presentation of the content of this service. According to a given embodiment, this field may specify a predefined capability group. Here, the capability group may be a group of capability attribute values for significant presentation. This field may be omitted according to a given embodiment.

deliveryMethod can be a container of transport related information pertaining to the contents of the service over broadcast and (optionally) broadband modes of access. Referring to data included in the service, when the number of the data is N, delivery schemes for respective data may be described by this element. The deliveryMethod may include an r12:broadcastAppService element and an r12:unicastAppService element. Each lower element may include a basePattern element as a lower element.

r12:broadcastAppService can be a DASH Representation delivered over broadcast, in multiplexed or non-multiplexed form, containing the corresponding media component(s) belonging to the service, across all Periods of the affiliated Media Presentation. In other words, each of the fields may indicate DASH representation delivered through the broadcast network.

r12:unicastAppService can be a DASH Representation delivered over broadband, in multiplexed or non-multiplexed form, containing the constituent media content component(s) belonging to the service, across all Periods of the affiliated Media Presentation. In other words, each of the fields may indicate DASH representation delivered via broadband.

basePattern can be a character pattern for use by the receiver to match against any portion of the Segment URL used by the DASH client to request Media Segments of a parent Representation under its containing Period. A match implies that the corresponding requested Media Segment is carried over broadcast transport. In a URL address for receiving DASH representation expressed by each of the r12:broadcastAppService element and the r12:unicastAppService element, a part of the URL, etc. may have a particular pattern. The pattern may be described by this field. Some data may be distinguished using this information. The proposed default values may vary depending on embodiments. The “use” column illustrated in the figure relates to each field. Here, M may denote an essential field, O may denote an optional field, OD may denote an optional field having a default value, and CM may denote a conditional essential field. 0 . . . 1 to 0 . . . N may indicate the number of available fields.

FIG. 6 illustrates an S-TSID fragment for ROUTE/DASH according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, a description will be given of the S-TSID illustrated in the figure in detail.

S-TSID can be an SLS XML fragment which provides the overall session description information for transport session(s) which carry the content components of a service. The S-TSID is the SLS metadata fragment that contains the overall transport session description information for the zero or more ROUTE sessions and constituent LCT sessions in which the media content components of a service are delivered. The S-TSID also includes file metadata for the delivery object or object flow carried in the LCT sessions of the service, as well as additional information on the payload formats and content components carried in those LCT sessions.

Each instance of the S-TSID fragment is referenced in the USBD fragment by the @atsc:sTSIDUri attribute of the userServiceDescription element. The illustrated S-TSID according to the present embodiment is expressed as an XML document. According to a given embodiment, the S-TSID may be expressed in a binary format or as an XML document.

The illustrated S-TSID may have an S-TSID root element. The S-TSID root element may include @serviceId and/or RS.

@serviceID can be a reference corresponding service element in the USD. The value of this attribute can reference a service with a corresponding value of service_id.

The RS element may have information about a ROUTE session for delivering the service data. Service data or service components may be delivered through a plurality of ROUTE sessions, and thus the number of RS elements may be 1 to N.

The RS element may include @bsid, @sIpAddr, @dIpAddr, @dport, @PLPID and/or LS.

@bsid can be an identifier of the Broadcast Stream within which the content component(s) of the broadcastAppService are carried. When this attribute is absent, the default Broadcast Stream is the one whose PLPs carry SLS fragments for this service. Its value can be identical to that of the broadcast_stream_id in the SLT.

@sIpAddr can indicate source IP address. Here, the source IP address may be a source IP address of a ROUTE session for delivering a service component included in the service. As described in the foregoing, service components of one service may be delivered through a plurality of ROUTE sessions. Thus, the service components may be transmitted using another ROUTE session other than the ROUTE session for delivering the S-TSID. Therefore, this field may be used to indicate the source IP address of the ROUTE session. A default value of this field may be a source IP address of a current ROUTE session. When a service component is delivered through another ROUTE session, and thus the ROUTE session needs to be indicated, a value of this field may be a value of a source IP address of the ROUTE session. In this case, this field may correspond to M, that is, an essential field.

@dIpAddr can indicate destination IP address. Here, a destination IP address may be a destination IP address of a ROUTE session that delivers a service component included in a service. For a similar case to the above description of @sIpAddr, this field may indicate a destination IP address of a ROUTE session that delivers a service component. A default value of this field may be a destination IP address of a current ROUTE session. When a service component is delivered through another ROUTE session, and thus the ROUTE session needs to be indicated, a value of this field may be a value of a destination IP address of the ROUTE session. In this case, this field may correspond to M, that is, an essential field.

@dport can indicate destination port. Here, a destination port may be a destination port of a ROUTE session that delivers a service component included in a service. For a similar case to the above description of @sIpAddr, this field may indicate a destination port of a ROUTE session that delivers a service component. A default value of this field may be a destination port number of a current ROUTE session. When a service component is delivered through another ROUTE session, and thus the ROUTE session needs to be indicated, a value of this field may be a destination port number value of the ROUTE session. In this case, this field may correspond to M, that is, an essential field.

@PLPID may be an ID of a PLP for a ROUTE session expressed by an RS. A default value may be an ID of a PLP of an LCT session including a current S-TSID. According to a given embodiment, this field may have an ID value of a PLP for an LCT session for delivering an S-TSID in the ROUTE session, and may have ID values of all PLPs for the ROUTE session.

An LS element may have information about an LCT session for delivering a service data. Service data or service components may be delivered through a plurality of LCT sessions, and thus the number of LS elements may be 1 to N.

The LS element may include @tsi, @PLPID, @bw, @startTime, @endTime, SrcFlow and/or RprFlow.

@tsi may indicate a TSI value of an LCT session for delivering a service component of a service.

@PLPID may have ID information of a PLP for the LCT session. This value may be overwritten on a basic ROUTE session value.

@bw may indicate a maximum bandwidth value. @startTime may indicate a start time of the LCT session. @endTime may indicate an end time of the LCT session. A SrcFlow element may describe a source flow of ROUTE. A RprFlow element may describe a repair flow of ROUTE.

The proposed default values may be varied according to an embodiment. The “use” column illustrated in the figure relates to each field. Here, M may denote an essential field, 0 may denote an optional field, OD may denote an optional field having a default value, and CM may denote a conditional essential field. 0 . . . 1 to 0 . . . N may indicate the number of available fields.

Hereinafter, a description will be given of MPD for ROUTE/DASH.

The MPD is an SLS metadata fragment which contains a formalized description of a DASH Media Presentation, corresponding to a linear service of a given duration defined by the broadcaster (for example a single TV program, or the set of contiguous linear TV programs over a period of time). The contents of the MPD provide the resource identifiers for Segments and the context for the identified resources within the Media Presentation. The data structure and semantics of the MPD fragment can be according to the MPD defined by MPEG DASH.

One or more of the DASH Representations conveyed in the MPD can be carried over broadcast. The MPD may describe additional Representations delivered over broadband, e.g. in the case of a hybrid service, or to support service continuity in handoff from broadcast to broadcast due to broadcast signal degradation (e.g. driving through a tunnel).

FIG. 7 illustrates a USBD/USD fragment for MMT according to an embodiment of the present invention.

MMT Service Layer Signaling for linear services comprise the USBD fragment and the MMT Package (MP) table. The MP table is as described above. The USBD fragment contains service identification, device capabilities information, references to other SLS information required to access the service and constituent media components, and the metadata to enable the receiver to determine the transport mode (broadcast and/or broadband) of the service components. The MP table for MPU components, referenced by the USBD, provides transport session descriptions for the MMTP sessions in which the media content components of a service are delivered and the descriptions of the Assets carried in those MMTP sessions.

The streaming content signaling component of the SLS for MPU components corresponds to the MP table defined in MMT. The MP table provides a list of MMT Assets where each Asset corresponds to a single service component and the description of the location information for this component.

USBD fragments may also contain references to the S-TSID and the MPD as described above, for service components delivered by the ROUTE protocol and the broadband, respectively. According to a given embodiment, in delivery through MMT, a service component delivered through the ROUTE protocol is NRT data, etc. Thus, in this case, MPD may be unnecessary. In addition, in delivery through MMT, information about an LCT session for delivering a service component, which is delivered via broadband, is unnecessary, and thus an S-TSID may be unnecessary. Here, an MMT package may be a logical collection of media data delivered using MMT. Here, an MMTP packet may refer to a formatted unit of media data delivered using MMT. An MPU may refer to a generic container of independently decodable timed/non-timed data. Here, data in the MPU is media codec agnostic.

Hereinafter, a description will be given of details of the USBD/USD illustrated in the figure.

The illustrated USBD fragment is an example of the present invention, and basic fields of the USBD fragment may be additionally provided according to an embodiment. As described in the foregoing, the illustrated USBD fragment has an extended form, and may have fields added to a basic structure.

The illustrated USBD according to an embodiment of the present invention is expressed as an XML document. According to a given embodiment, the USBD may be expressed in a binary format or as an XML document.

The illustrated USBD may have a bundleDescription root element. The bundleDescription root element may have a userServiceDescription element. The userServiceDescription element may be an instance for one service.

The userServiceDescription element may include @serviceId, @atsc:serviceId, name, serviceLanguage, atsc:capabilityCode, atsc:Channel, atsc:mpuComponent, atsc:routeComponent, atsc:broadbandComponent and/or atsc:ComponentInfo.

Here, @serviceId, @atsc:serviceId, name, serviceLanguage, and atsc:capabilityCode may be as described above. The lang field below the name field may be as described above. atsc:capabilityCode may be omitted according to a given embodiment.

The userServiceDescription element may further include an atsc:contentAdvisoryRating element according to an embodiment. This element may be an optional element. atsc:contentAdvisoryRating can specify the content advisory rating. This field is not illustrated in the figure.

atsc:Channel may have information about a channel of a service. The atsc:Channel element may include @atsc:majorChannelNo, @atsc:minorChannelNo, @atsc:serviceLang, @atsc:serviceGenre, @atsc:serviceIcon and/or atsc:ServiceDescription. @atsc:majorChannelNo, @atsc:minorChannelNo, and @atsc:serviceLang may be omitted according to a given embodiment.

@atsc:majorChannelNo is an attribute that indicates the major channel number of the service.

@atsc:minorChannelNo is an attribute that indicates the minor channel number of the service.

@atsc:serviceLang is an attribute that indicates the primary language used in the service.

@atsc:serviceGenre is an attribute that indicates primary genre of the service.

@atsc:serviceIcon is an attribute that indicates the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) for the icon used to represent this service.

atsc:ServiceDescription includes service description, possibly in multiple languages. atsc:ServiceDescription includes can include @atsc:serviceDescrText and/or @atsc: serviceDescrLang.

@atsc:serviceDescrText is an attribute that indicates description of the service.

@atsc:serviceDescrLang is an attribute that indicates the language of the serviceDescrText attribute above.

atsc:mpuComponent may have information about a content component of a service delivered in a form of an MPU. atsc:mpuComponent may include @atsc:mmtPackageId and/or @atsc:nextMmtPackageId.

@atsc:mmtPackageId can reference a MMT Package for content components of the service delivered as MPUs.

@atsc:nextMmtPackageId can reference a MMT Package to be used after the one referenced by @atsc:mmtPackageId in time for content components of the service delivered as MPUs.

atsc:routeComponent may have information about a content component of a service delivered through ROUTE. atsc:routeComponent may include @atsc:sTSIDUri, @sTSIDPlpId, @sTSIDDestinationIpAddress, @sTSIDDestinationUdpPort, @sTSIDSourceIpAddress, @ sTSIDMajorProtocolVersion and/or @sTSIDMinorProtocolVersion.

@atsc:sTSIDUri can be a reference to the S-TSID fragment which provides access related parameters to the Transport sessions carrying contents of this service. This field may be the same as a URI for referring to an S-TSID in USBD for ROUTE described above. As described in the foregoing, in service delivery by the MMTP, service components, which are delivered through NRT, etc., may be delivered by ROUTE. This field may be used to refer to the S-TSID therefor.

@sTSIDPlpId can be a string representing an integer number indicating the PLP ID of the physical layer pipe carrying the S-TSID for this service. (default: current physical layer pipe)

@sTSIDDestinationIpAddress can be a string containing the dotted-IPv4 destination address of the packets carrying S-TSID for this service. (default: current MMTP session's source IP address)

@sTSIDDestinationUdpPort can be a string containing the port number of the packets carrying S-TSID for this service.

@sTSIDSourceIpAddress can be a string containing the dotted-IPv4 source address of the packets carrying S-TSID for this service.

@sTSIDMajorProtocolVersion can indicate major version number of the protocol used to deliver the S-TSID for this service. Default value is 1.

@sTSIDMinorProtocolVersion can indicate minor version number of the protocol used to deliver the S-TSID for this service. Default value is 0.

atsc:broadbandComponent may have information about a content component of a service delivered via broadband. In other words, atsc:broadbandComponent may be a field on the assumption of hybrid delivery. atsc:broadbandComponent may further include @atsc:fullfMPDUri.

@atsc:fullfMPDUri can be a reference to an MPD fragment which contains descriptions for contents components of the service delivered over broadband.

An atsc:ComponentInfo field may have information about an available component of a service. The atsc:ComponentInfo field may have information about a type, a role, a name, etc. of each component. The number of atsc:ComponentInfo fields may correspond to the number (N) of respective components. The atsc:ComponentInfo field may include @atsc:componentType, @atsc:componentRole, @atsc:componentProtectedFlag, @atsc:componentId and/or @atsc:componentName.

@atsc:componentType is an attribute that indicates the type of this component. Value of 0 indicates an audio component. Value of 1 indicates a video component. Value of 2 indicated a closed caption component. Value of 3 indicates an application component. Values 4 to 7 are reserved. A meaning of a value of this field may be differently set depending on embodiments.

@atsc:componentRole is an attribute that indicates the role or kind of this component.

For audio (when componentType attribute above is equal to 0): values of componentRole attribute are as follows: 0=Complete main, 1=Music and Effects, 2=Dialog, 3=Commentary, 4=Visually Impaired, 5=Hearing Impaired, 6=Voice-Over, 7-254=reserved, 255=unknown. For Video (when componentType attribute above is equal to 1) values of componentRole attribute are as follows: 0=Primary video, 1=Alternative camera view, 2=Other alternative video component, 3=Sign language inset, 4=Follow subject video, 5=3D video left view, 6=3D video right view, 7=3D video depth information, 8=Part of video array <x,y> of <n,m>, 9=Follow-Subject metadata, 10-254=reserved, 255=unknown.

For Closed Caption component (when componentType attribute above is equal to 2) values of componentRole attribute are as follows: 0=Normal, 1=Easy reader, 2-254=reserved, 255=unknown.

When componentType attribute above is between 3 to 7, inclusive, the componentRole can be equal to 255. A meaning of a value of this field may be differently set depending on embodiments.

@atsc:componentProtectedFlag is an attribute that indicates if this component is protected (e.g. encrypted). When this flag is set to a value of 1 this component is protected (e.g. encrypted). When this flag is set to a value of 0 this component is not protected (e.g. encrypted). When not present the value of componentProtectedFlag attribute is inferred to be equal to 0. A meaning of a value of this field may be differently set depending on embodiments.

@atsc:componentId is an attribute that indicates the identifier of this component. The value of this attribute can be the same as the asset id in the MP table corresponding to this component

@atsc:componentName is an attribute that indicates the human readable name of this component.

The proposed default values may vary depending on embodiments. The “use” column illustrated in the figure relates to each field. Here, M may denote an essential field, 0 may denote an optional field, OD may denote an optional field having a default value, and CM may denote a conditional essential field. 0 . . . 1 to 0 . . . N may indicate the number of available fields.

Hereinafter, a description will be given of MPD for MMT.

The Media Presentation Description is an SLS metadata fragment corresponding to a linear service of a given duration defined by the broadcaster (for example a single TV program, or the set of contiguous linear TV programs over a period of time). The contents of the MPD provide the resource identifiers for Segments and the context for the identified resources within the Media Presentation. The data structure and semantics of the MPD can be according to the MPD defined by MPEG DASH.

In the present embodiment, an MPD delivered by an MMTP session describes Representations delivered over broadband, e.g. in the case of a hybrid service, or to support service continuity in handoff from broadcast to broadband due to broadcast signal degradation (e.g. driving under a mountain or through a tunnel).

Hereinafter, a description will be given of an MMT signaling message for MMT.

When MMTP sessions are used to carry a streaming service, MMT signaling messages defined by MMT are delivered by MMTP packets according to Signaling Message Mode defined by MMT. The value of the packet_id field of MMTP packets carrying Service Layer Signaling isset to ‘00’ except for MMTP packets carrying MMT signaling messages specific to an Asset, which can be set to the same packet_id value as the MMTP packets carrying the Asset. Identifiers referencing the appropriate Package for each service are signaled by the USBD fragment as described above. MMT Package Table (MPT) messages with matching MMT_package_id can be delivered on the MMTP session signaled in the SLT. Each MMTP session carries MMT signaling messages specific to its session or each asset delivered by the MMTP session.

In other words, it is possible to access USBD of the MMTP session by specifying an IP destination address/port number, etc. of a packet having the SLS for a particular service in the SLT. As described in the foregoing, a packet ID of an MMTP packet carrying the SLS may be designated as a particular value such as 00, etc. It is possible to access an MPT message having a matched packet ID using the above-described package IP information of USBD. As described below, the MPT message may be used to access each service component/asset.

The following MMTP messages can be delivered by the MMTP session signaled in the SLT.

MMT Package Table (MPT) message: This message carries an MP (MMT Package) table which contains the list of all Assets and their location information as defined by MMT. If an Asset is delivered by a PLP different from the current PLP delivering the MP table, the identifier of the PLP carrying the Asset can be provided in the MP table using Physical Layer Pipe Identifier Descriptor. The physical layer pipe identifier descriptor will be described below.

MMT ATSC3 (MA3) message mmt_atsc3_message( ): This message carries system metadata specific for services including Service Layer Signaling as described above. mmt_atsc3_message( ) will be described below.

The following MMTP messages can be delivered by the MMTP session signaled in the SLT, if required.

Media Presentation Information (MPI) message: This message carries an MPI table which contains the whole document or a subset of a document of presentation information. An MP table associated with the MPI table also can be delivered by this message.

Clock Relation Information (CRI) message: This message carries a CRI table which contains clock related information for the mapping between the NTP timestamp and the MPEG-2 STC. According to a given embodiment, the CRI message may not be delivered through the MMTP session.

The following MMTP messages can be delivered by each MMTP session carrying streaming content.

Hypothetical Receiver Buffer Model message: This message carries information required by the receiver to manage its buffer.

Hypothetical Receiver Buffer Model Removal message: This message carries information required by the receiver to manage its MMT de-capsulation buffer.

Hereinafter, a description will be given of mmt_atsc3_message( ) corresponding to one of MMT signaling messages. An MMT Signaling message mmt_atsc3_message( ) is defined to deliver information specific to services according to the present invention described above. The signaling message may include message ID, version, and/or length fields corresponding to basic fields of the MMT signaling message. A payload of the signaling message may include service ID information, content type information, content version information, content compression information and/or URI information. The content type information may indicate a type of data included in the payload of the signaling message. The content version information may indicate a version of data included in the payload, and the content compression information may indicate a type of compression applied to the data. The URI information may have URI information related to content delivered by the message.

Hereinafter, a description will be given of the physical layer pipe identifier descriptor.

The physical layer pipe identifier descriptor is a descriptor that can be used as one of descriptors of the MP table described above. The Physical Layer Pipe Identifier Descriptor provides information about the PLP carrying an Asset. If an Asset is delivered by a PLP different from the current PLP delivering the MP table, the Physical Layer Pipe Identifier Descriptor can be used as an asset descriptor in the associated MP table to identify the PLP carrying the Asset. The physical layer pipe identifier descriptor may further include BSID information in addition to PLP ID information. The BSID may be an ID of a broadcast stream that delivers an MMTP packet for an asset described by the descriptor.

FIG. 8 illustrates a link layer protocol architecture according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, a link layer will be described.

The link layer is the layer between the physical layer and the network layer, and transports the data from the network layer to the physical layer at the sending side and transports the data from the physical layer to the network layer at the receiving side. The purpose of the link layer includes abstracting all input packet types into a single format for processing by the physical layer, ensuring flexibility and future extensibility for as yet undefined input types. In addition, processing within the link layer ensures that the input data can be transmitted in an efficient manner, for example by providing options to compress redundant information in the headers of input packets. The operations of encapsulation, compression and so on are referred to as the link layer protocol and packets created using this protocol are called link layer packets. The link layer may perform functions such as packet encapsulation, overhead reduction and/or signaling transmission, etc.

Hereinafter, packet encapsulation will be described. Link Layer protocol allows encapsulation of any type of packet, including ones such as IP packets and MPEG-2 TS. Using Link Layer protocol, the physical layer need only process one single packet format, independent of the network layer protocol type (here we consider MPEG-2 TS packet as a kind of network layer packet.) Each network layer packet or input packet is transformed into the payload of a generic link layer packet. Additionally, concatenation and segmentation can be performed in order to use the physical layer resources efficiently when the input packet sizes are particularly small or large.

As described in the foregoing, segmentation may be used in packet encapsulation. When the network layer packet is too large to process easily in the physical layer, the network layer packet is divided into two or more segments. The link layer packet header includes protocol fields to perform segmentation on the sending side and reassembly on the receiving side. When the network layer packet is segmented, each segment can be encapsulated to link layer packet in the same order as original position in the network layer packet. Also each link layer packet which includes a segment of network layer packet can be transported to PHY layer consequently.

As described in the foregoing, concatenation may be used in packet encapsulation. When the network layer packet is small enough for the payload of a link layer packet to include several network layer packets, the link layer packet header includes protocol fields to perform concatenation. The concatenation is combining of multiple small sized network layer packets into one payload. When the network layer packets are concatenated, each network layer packet can be concatenated to payload of link layer packet in the same order as original input order. Also each packet which constructs a payload of link layer packet can be whole packet, not a segment of packet.

Hereinafter, overhead reduction will be described. Use of the link layer protocol can result in significant reduction in overhead for transport of data on the physical layer. The link layer protocol according to the present invention may provide IP overhead reduction and/or MPEG-2 TS overhead reduction. In IP overhead reduction, IP packets have a fixed header format, however some of the information which is needed in a communication environment may be redundant in a broadcast environment. Link Layer protocol provides mechanisms to reduce the broadcast overhead by compressing headers of IP packets. In MPEG-2 TS overhead reduction, Link Layer protocol provides sync byte removal, null packet deletion and/or common header removal (compression). First, sync byte removal provides an overhead reduction of one byte per TS packet, secondly a null packet deletion mechanism removes the 188 byte null TS packets in a manner that they can be re-inserted at the receiver and finally a common header removal mechanism.

For signaling transmission, in the link layer protocol, a particular format for the signaling packet may be provided for link layer signaling, which will be described below.

In the illustrated link layer protocol architecture according to an embodiment of the present invention, Link Layer protocol takes as input network layer packets such as IPv4, MPEG-2 TS and so on as input packets. Future extension indicates other packet types and protocol which is also possible to be input in link layer. Link layer protocol also specifies the format and signaling for any link layer signaling, including information about mapping to specific channel to the physical layer. Figure also shows how ALP incorporates mechanisms to improve the efficiency of transmission, via various header compression and deletion algorithms. In addition, the link layer protocol may basically encapsulate input packets.

FIG. 9 illustrates a structure of a base header of a link layer packet according to an embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, the structure of the header will be described.

A link layer packet can include a header followed by the data payload. The header of a link layer packet can include a base header, and may include an additional header depending on the control fields of the base header. The presence of an optional header is indicated from flag fields of the additional header. According to a given embodiment, a field indicating the presence of an additional header and an optional header may be positioned in the base header.

Hereinafter, the structure of the base header will be described. The base header for link layer packet encapsulation has a hierarchical structure. The base header can be two bytes in length and is the minimum length of the link layer packet header.

The illustrated base header according to the present embodiment may include a Packet_Type field, a PC field and/or a length field. According to a given embodiment, the base header may further include an HM field or an S/C field.

Packet_Type field can be a 3-bit field that indicates the original protocol or packet type of the input data before encapsulation into a link layer packet. An IPv4 packet, a compressed IP packet, a link layer signaling packet, and other types of packets may have the base header structure and may be encapsulated. However, according to a given embodiment, the MPEG-2 TS packet may have a different particular structure, and may be encapsulated. When the value of Packet_Type is “000”, “001” “100” or “111”, that is the original data type of an ALP packet is one of an IPv4 packet, a compressed IP packet, link layer signaling or extension packet. When the MPEG-2 TS packet is encapsulated, the value of Packet_Type can be “010”. Other values of the Packet_Type field may be reserved for future use.

Payload_Configuration (PC) field can be a 1-bit field that indicates the configuration of the payload. A value of 0 can indicate that the link layer packet carries a single, whole input packet and the following field is the Header_Mode field. A value of 1 can indicate that the link layer packet carries more than one input packet (concatenation) or a part of a large input packet (segmentation) and the following field is the Segmentation_Concatenation field.

Header_Mode (HM) field can be a 1-bit field, when set to 0, that can indicate there is no additional header, and that the length of the payload of the link layer packet is less than 2048 bytes. This value may be varied depending on embodiments. A value of 1 can indicate that an additional header for single packet defined below is present following the Length field. In this case, the length of the payload is larger than 2047 bytes and/or optional features can be used (sub-stream identification, header extension, etc.). This value may be varied depending on embodiments. This field can be present only when Payload_Configuration field of the link layer packet has a value of 0.

Segmentation_Concatenation (S/C) field can be a 1-bit field, when set to 0, that can indicate that the payload carries a segment of an input packet and an Additional header for segmentation defined below is present following the Length field. A value of 1 can indicate that the payload carries more than one complete input packet and an Additional header for concatenation defined below is present following the Length field. This field can be present only when the value of Payload_Configuration field of the ALP packet is 1.

Length field can be a 11-bit field that indicates the 11 least significant bits (LSBs) of the length in bytes of payload carried by the link layer packet. When there is a Length_MSB field in the following additional header, the Length field is concatenated with the Length_MSB field, and is the LSB to provide the actual total length of the payload. The number of bits of the length field may be changed to another value rather than 11 bits.

Following types of packet configuration are thus possible: a single packet without any additional header, a single packet with an additional header, a segmented packet and a concatenated packet. According to a given embodiment, more packet configurations may be made through a combination of each additional header, an optional header, an additional header for signaling information to be described below, and an additional header for time extension.

FIG. 10 illustrates a structure of an additional header of a link layer packet according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Various types of additional headers may be present. Hereinafter, a description will be given of an additional header for a single packet.

This additional header for single packet can be present when Header_Mode (HM)=“1”. The Header_Mode (HM) can be set to 1 when the length of the payload of the link layer packet is larger than 2047 bytes or when the optional fields are used. The additional header for single packet is shown in Figure (tsib10010).

Length_MSB field can be a 5-bit field that can indicate the most significant bits (MSBs) of the total payload length in bytes in the current link layer packet, and is concatenated with the Length field containing the 11 least significant bits (LSBs) to obtain the total payload length. The maximum length of the payload that can be signaled is therefore 65535 bytes. The number of bits of the length field may be changed to another value rather than 11 bits. In addition, the number of bits of the Length_MSB field may be changed, and thus a maximum expressible payload length may be changed. According to a given embodiment, each length field may indicate a length of a whole link layer packet rather than a payload.

SIF (Sub-stream Identifier Flag) field can be a 1-bit field that can indicate whether the sub-stream ID (SID) is present after the HEF field or not. When there is no SID in this link layer packet, SIF field can be set to 0. When there is a SID after HEF field in the link layer packet, SIF can be set to 1. The detail of SID is described below.

HEF (Header Extension Flag) field can be a 1-bit field that can indicate, when set to 1 additional header is present for future extension. A value of 0 can indicate that this extension header is not present.

Hereinafter, a description will be given of an additional header when segmentation is used.

This additional header (tsib10020) can be present when Segmentation_Concatenation (S/C)=“0”. Segment_Sequence_Number can be a 5-bit unsigned integer that can indicate the order of the corresponding segment carried by the link layer packet. For the link layer packet which carries the first segment of an input packet, the value of this field can be set to 0x0. This field can be incremented by one with each additional segment belonging to the segmented input packet.

Last_Segment_Indicator (LSI) can be a 1-bit field that can indicate, when set to 1, that the segment in this payload is the last one of input packet. A value of 0, can indicate that it is not last segment.

SIF (Sub-stream Identifier Flag) can be a 1-bit field that can indicate whether the SID is present after the HEF field or not. When there is no SID in the link layer packet, SIF field can be set to 0. When there is a SID after the HEF field in the link layer packet, SIF can be set to 1.

HEF (Header Extension Flag) can be a This 1-bit field that can indicate, when set to 1, that the optional header extension is present after the additional header for future extensions of the link layer header. A value of 0 can indicate that optional header extension is not present.

According to a given embodiment, a packet ID field may be additionally provided to indicate that each segment is generated from the same input packet. This field may be unnecessary and thus be omitted when segments are transmitted in order.

Hereinafter, a description will be given of an additional header when concatenation is used.

This additional header (tsib10030) can be present when Segmentation_Concatenation (S/C)=“1”.

Length_MSB can be a 4-bit field that can indicate MSB bits of the payload length in bytes in this link layer packet. The maximum length of the payload is 32767 bytes for concatenation. As described in the foregoing, a specific numeric value may be changed.

Count can be a field that can indicate the number of the packets included in the link layer packet. The number of the packets included in the link layer packet, 2 can be set to this field. So, its maximum value of concatenated packets in a link layer packet is 9. A scheme in which the count field indicates the number may be varied depending on embodiments. That is, the numbers from 1 to 8 may be indicated.

HEF (Header Extension Flag) can be a 1-bit field that can indicate, when set to 1 the optional header extension is present after the additional header for future extensions of the link layer header. A value of 0, can indicate extension header is not present.

Component_Length can be a is 12-bit length field that can indicate the length in byte of each packet. Component_Length fields are included in the same order as the packets present in the payload except last component packet. The number of length field can be indicated by (Count+1). According to a given embodiment, length fields, the number of which is the same as a value of the count field, may be present. When a link layer header consists of an odd number of Component_Length, four stuffing bits can follow after the last Component_Length field. These bits can be set to 0. According to a given embodiment, a Component_length field indicating a length of a last concatenated input packet may not be present. In this case, the length of the last concatenated input packet may correspond to a length obtained by subtracting a sum of values indicated by respective Component_length fields from a whole payload length.

Hereinafter, the optional header will be described.

As described in the foregoing, the optional header may be added to a rear of the additional header. The optional header field can contain SID and/or header extension. The SID is used to filter out specific packet stream in the link layer level. One example of SID is the role of service identifier in a link layer stream carrying multiple services. The mapping information between a service and the SID value corresponding to the service can be provided in the SLT, if applicable. The header extension contains extended field for future use. Receivers can ignore any header extensions which they do not understand.

SID (Sub-stream Identifier) can be a 8-bit field that can indicate the sub stream identifier for the link layer packet. If there is optional header extension, SID present between additional header and optional header extension.

Header_Extension( ) can include the fields defined below.

Extension_Type can be a 8-bit field that can indicate the type of the Header_Extension( ).

Extension_Length can be a 8-bit field that can indicate the length of the Header Extension( ) in bytes counting from the next byte to the last byte of the Header_Extension( ).

Extension_Byte can be a byte representing the value of the Header_Extension( ).

FIG. 11 illustrates a structure of an additional header of a link layer packet according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, a description will be given of an additional header for signaling information.

How link layer signaling is incorporated into link layer packets are as follows. Signaling packets are identified by when the Packet_Type field of the base header is equal to 100.

Figure (tsib11010) shows the structure of the link layer packets containing additional header for signaling information. In addition to the link layer header, the link layer packet can consist of two additional parts, additional header for signaling information and the actual signaling data itself. The total length of the link layer signaling packet is shown in the link layer packet header.

The additional header for signaling information can include following fields. According to a given embodiment, some fields may be omitted.

Signaling_Type can be a 8-bit field that can indicate the type of signaling.

Signaling_Type_Extension can be a 16-bit filed that can indicate the attribute of the signaling. Detail of this field can be defined in signaling specification.

Signaling_Version can be a 8-bit field that can indicate the version of signaling.

Signaling_Format can be a 2-bit field that can indicate the data format of the signaling data. Here, a signaling format may refer to a data format such as a binary format, an XML format, etc.

Signaling_Encoding can be a 2-bit field that can specify the encoding/compression format. This field may indicate whether compression is not performed and which type of compression is performed.

Hereinafter, a description will be given of an additional header for packet type extension.

In order to provide a mechanism to allow an almost unlimited number of additional protocol and packet types to be carried by link layer in the future, the additional header is defined. Packet type extension can be used when Packet_type is 111 in the base header as described above. Figure (tsib11020) shows the structure of the link layer packets containing additional header for type extension.

The additional header for type extension can include following fields. According to a given embodiment, some fields may be omitted.

extended_type can be a 16-bit field that can indicate the protocol or packet type of the input encapsulated in the link layer packet as payload. This field can not be used for any protocol or packet type already defined by Packet_Type field.

FIG. 12 illustrates a header structure of a link layer packet for an MPEG-2 TS packet and an encapsulation process thereof according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, a description will be given of a format of the link layer packet when the MPEG-2 TS packet is input as an input packet.

In this case, the Packet_Type field of the base header is equal to 010. Multiple TS packets can be encapsulated within each link layer packet. The number of TS packets is signaled via the NUMTS field. In this case, as described in the foregoing, a particular link layer packet header format may be used.

Link layer provides overhead reduction mechanisms for MPEG-2 TS to enhance the transmission efficiency. The sync byte (0x47) of each TS packet can be deleted. The option to delete NULL packets and similar TS headers is also provided.

In order to avoid unnecessary transmission overhead, TS null packets (PID=0x1FFF) may be removed. Deleted null packets can be recovered in receiver side using DNP field. The DNP field indicates the count of deleted null packets. Null packet deletion mechanism using DNP field is described below.

In order to achieve more transmission efficiency, similar header of MPEG-2 TS packets can be removed. When two or more successive TS packets have sequentially increased continuity counter fields and other header fields are the same, the header is sent once at the first packet and the other headers are deleted. HDM field can indicate whether the header deletion is performed or not. Detailed procedure of common TS header deletion is described below.

When all three overhead reduction mechanisms are performed, overhead reduction can be performed in sequence of sync removal, null packet deletion, and common header deletion. According to a given embodiment, a performance order of respective mechanisms may be changed. In addition, some mechanisms may be omitted according to a given embodiment.

The overall structure of the link layer packet header when using MPEG-2 TS packet encapsulation is depicted in Figure (tsib12010).

Hereinafter, a description will be given of each illustrated field. Packet_Type can be a 3-bit field that can indicate the protocol type of input packet as describe above. For MPEG-2 TS packet encapsulation, this field can always be set to 010.

NUMTS (Number of TS packets) can be a 4-bit field that can indicate the number of TS packets in the payload of this link layer packet. A maximum of 16 TS packets can be supported in one link layer packet. The value of NUMTS=0 can indicate that 16 TS packets are carried by the payload of the link layer packet. For all other values of NUMTS, the same number of TS packets are recognized, e.g. NUMTS=0001 means one TS packet is carried.

AHF (Additional Header Flag) can be a field that can indicate whether the additional header is present of not. A value of 0 indicates that there is no additional header. A value of 1 indicates that an additional header of length 1-byte is present following the base header. If null TS packets are deleted or TS header compression is applied this field can be set to 1. The additional header for TS packet encapsulation consists of the following two fields and is present only when the value of AHF in this link layer packet is set to 1.

HDM (Header Deletion Mode) can be a 1-bit field that indicates whether TS header deletion can be applied to this link layer packet. A value of 1 indicates that TS header deletion can be applied. A value of “0” indicates that the TS header deletion method is not applied to this link layer packet.

DNP (Deleted Null Packets) can be a 7-bit field that indicates the number of deleted null TS packets prior to this link layer packet. A maximum of 128 null TS packets can be deleted. When HDM=0 the value of DNP=0 can indicate that 128 null packets are deleted. When HDM=1 the value of DNP=0 can indicate that no null packets are deleted. For all other values of DNP, the same number of null packets are recognized, e.g. DNP=5 means 5 null packets are deleted.

The number of bits of each field described above may be changed. According to the changed number of bits, a minimum/maximum value of a value indicated by the field may be changed. These numbers may be changed by a designer.

Hereinafter, SYNC byte removal will be described.

When encapsulating TS packets into the payload of a link layer packet, the SYNC byte (0x47) from the start of each TS packet can be deleted. Hence the length of the MPEG2-TS packet encapsulated in the payload of the link layer packet is always of length 187 bytes (instead of 188 bytes originally).

Hereinafter, null packet deletion will be described.

Transport Stream rules require that bit rates at the output of a transmitter's multiplexer and at the input of the receiver's de-multiplexer are constant in time and the end-to-end delay is also constant. For some Transport Stream input signals, null packets may be present in order to accommodate variable bitrate services in a constant bitrate stream. In this case, in order to avoid unnecessary transmission overhead, TS null packets (that is TS packets with PID=0x1FFF) may be removed. The process is carried-out in a way that the removed null packets can be re-inserted in the receiver in the exact place where they were originally, thus guaranteeing constant bitrate and avoiding the need for PCR time stamp updating.

Before generation of a link layer packet, a counter called DNP (Deleted Null-Packets) can first be reset to zero and then incremented for each deleted null packet preceding the first non-null TS packet to be encapsulated into the payload of the current link layer packet. Then a group of consecutive useful TS packets is encapsulated into the payload of the current link layer packet and the value of each field in its header can be determined. After the generated link layer packet is injected to the physical layer, the DNP is reset to zero. When DNP reaches its maximum allowed value, if the next packet is also a null packet, this null packet is kept as a useful packet and encapsulated into the payload of the next link layer packet. Each link layer packet can contain at least one useful TS packet in its payload.

Hereinafter, TS packet header deletion will be described. TS packet header deletion may be referred to as TS packet header compression.

When two or more successive TS packets have sequentially increased continuity counter fields and other header fields are the same, the header is sent once at the first packet and the other headers are deleted. When the duplicated MPEG-2 TS packets are included in two or more successive TS packets, header deletion can not be applied in transmitter side. HDM field can indicate whether the header deletion is performed or not. When TS header deletion is performed, HDM can be set to 1. In the receiver side, using the first packet header, the deleted packet headers are recovered, and the continuity counter is restored by increasing it in order from that of the first header.

An example tsib12020 illustrated in the figure is an example of a process in which an input stream of a TS packet is encapsulated into a link layer packet. First, a TS stream including TS packets having SYNC byte (0x47) may be input. First, sync bytes may be deleted through a sync byte deletion process. In this example, it is presumed that null packet deletion is not performed.

Here, it is presumed that packet headers of eight TS packets have the same field values except for CC, that is, a continuity counter field value. In this case, TS packet deletion/compression may be performed. Seven remaining TS packet headers are deleted except for a first TS packet header corresponding to CC=1. The processed TS packets may be encapsulated into a payload of the link layer packet.

In a completed link layer packet, a Packet_Type field corresponds to a case in which TS packets are input, and thus may have a value of 010. A NUMTS field may indicate the number of encapsulated TS packets. An AHF field may be set to 1 to indicate the presence of an additional header since packet header deletion is performed. An HDM field may be set to 1 since header deletion is performed. DNP may be set to 0 since null packet deletion is not performed.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example of adaptation modes in IP header compression according to an embodiment of the present invention (transmitting side).

Hereinafter, IP header compression will be described.

In the link layer, IP header compression/decompression scheme can be provided. IP header compression can include two parts: header compressor/decompressor and adaptation module. The header compression scheme can be based on the Robust Header Compression (ROHC). In addition, for broadcasting usage, adaptation function is added.

In the transmitter side, ROHC Compressor reduces the size of header for each packet. Then, Adaptation module extracts context information and builds signaling information from each packet stream. In the receiver side, adaptation module parses the signaling information associated with the received packet stream and attaches context information to the received packet stream. ROHC decompressor reconstructs the original IP packet by recovering the packet header.

The header compression scheme can be based on the RoHC as described above. In particular, in the present system, an RoHC framework can operate in a unidirectional mode (U mode) of the RoHC. In addition, in the present system, it is possible to use an RoHC UDP header compression profile which is identified by a profile identifier of 0x0002.

Hereinafter, adaptation will be described.

In case of transmission through the unidirectional link, if a receiver has no information of context, decompressor cannot recover the received packet header until receiving full context. This may cause channel change delay and turn on delay. For this reason, context information and configuration parameters between compressor and decompressor can be always sent with packet flow.

The Adaptation function provides out-of-band transmission of the configuration parameters and context information. Out-of-band transmission can be done through the link layer signaling. Therefore, the Adaptation function is used to reduce the channel change delay and decompression error due to loss of context information.

Hereinafter, extraction of context information will be described.

Context information may be extracted using various schemes according to adaptation mode. In the present invention, three examples will be described below. The scope of the present invention is not restricted to the examples of the adaptation mode to be described below. Here, the adaptation mode may be referred to as a context extraction mode.

Adaptation Mode 1 (not illustrated) may be a mode in which no additional operation is applied to a basic RoHC packet stream. In other words, the adaptation module may operate as a buffer in this mode. Therefore, in this mode, context information may not be included in link layer signaling.

In Adaptation Mode 2 (tsib13010), the adaptation module can detect the IR packet from ROHC packet flow and extract the context information (static chain). After extracting the context information, each IR packet can be converted to an IR-DYN packet. The converted IR-DYN packet can be included and transmitted inside the ROHC packet flow in the same order as IR packet, replacing the original packet.

In Adaptation Mode 3 (tsib13020), the adaptation module can detect the IR and IR-DYN packet from ROHC packet flow and extract the context information. The static chain and dynamic chain can be extracted from IR packet and dynamic chain can be extracted from IR-DYN packet. After extracting the context information, each IR and IR-DYN packet can be converted to a compressed packet. The compressed packet format can be the same with the next packet of IR or IR-DYN packet. The converted compressed packet can be included and transmitted inside the ROHC packet flow in the same order as IR or IR-DYN packet, replacing the original packet.

Signaling (Context) information can be encapsulated based on transmission structure. For example, context information can be encapsulated to the link layer signaling. In this case, the packet type value can be set to ‘100’.

In the above-described Adaptation Modes 2 and 3, a link layer packet for context information may have a packet type field value of 100. In addition, a link layer packet for compressed IP packets may have a packet type field value of 001. The values indicate that each of the signaling information and the compressed IP packets are included in the link layer packet as described above.

Hereinafter, a description will be given of a method of transmitting the extracted context information.

The extracted context information can be transmitted separately from ROHC packet flow, with signaling data through specific physical data path. The transmission of context depends on the configuration of the physical layer path. The context information can be sent with other link layer signaling through the signaling data pipe.

In other words, the link layer packet having the context information may be transmitted through a signaling PLP together with link layer packets having other link layer signaling information (Packet_Type=100). Compressed IP packets from which context information is extracted may be transmitted through a general PLP (Packet_Type=001). Here, depending on embodiments, the signaling PLP may refer to an L1 signaling path. In addition, depending on embodiments, the signaling PLP may not be separated from the general PLP, and may refer to a particular and general PLP through which the signaling information is transmitted.

At a receiving side, prior to reception of a packet stream, a receiver may need to acquire signaling information. When receiver decodes initial PLP to acquire the signaling information, the context signaling can be also received. After the signaling acquisition is done, the PLP to receive packet stream can be selected. In other words, the receiver may acquire the signaling information including the context information by selecting the initial PLP. Here, the initial PLP may be the above-described signaling PLP. Thereafter, the receiver may select a PLP for acquiring a packet stream. In this way, the context information may be acquired prior to reception of the packet stream.

After the PLP for acquiring the packet stream is selected, the adaptation module can detect IR-DYN packet form received packet flow. Then, the adaptation module parses the static chain from the context information in the signaling data. This is similar to receiving the IR packet. For the same context identifier, IR-DYN packet can be recovered to IR packet. Recovered ROHC packet flow can be sent to ROHC decompressor. Thereafter, decompression may be started.

FIG. 14 illustrates a link mapping table (LMT) and an RoHC-U description table according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, link layer signaling will be described.

Generally, link layer signaling is operates under IP level. In the receiver side, link layer signaling can be obtained earlier than IP level signaling such as Service List Table (SLT) and Service Layer Signaling (SLS). Therefore, link layer signaling can be obtained before session establishment.

For link layer signaling, there can be two kinds of signaling according input path: internal link layer signaling and external link layer signaling. The internal link layer signaling is generated in link layer at transmitter side. And the link layer takes the signaling from external module or protocol. This kind of signaling information is considered as external link layer signaling. If some signaling need to be obtained prior to IP level signaling, external signaling is transmitted in format of link layer packet.

The link layer signaling can be encapsulated into link layer packet as described above. The link layer packets can carry any format of link layer signaling, including binary and XML. The same signaling information may not be transmitted in different formats for the link layer signaling.

Internal link layer signaling may include signaling information for link mapping. The Link Mapping Table (LMT) provides a list of upper layer sessions carried in a PLP. The LMT also provides addition information for processing the link layer packets carrying the upper layer sessions in the link layer.

An example of the LMT (tsib14010) according to the present invention is illustrated.

signaling_type can be an 8-bit unsigned integer field that indicates the type of signaling carried by this table. The value of signaling_type field for Link Mapping Table (LMT) can be set to 0x01.

PLP_ID can be an 8-bit field that indicates the PLP corresponding to this table.

num_session can be an 8-bit unsigned integer field that provides the number of upper layer sessions carried in the PLP identified by the above PLP_ID field. When the value of signaling_type field is 0x01, this field can indicate the number of UDP/IP sessions in the PLP.

src_IP_add can be a 32-bit unsigned integer field that contains the source IP address of an upper layer session carried in the PLP identified by the PLP_ID field.

dst_IP_add can be a 32-bit unsigned integer field that contains the destination IP address of an upper layer session carried in the PLP identified by the PLP_ID field.

src_UDP_port can be a 16-bit unsigned integer field that represents the source UDP port number of an upper layer session carried in the PLP identified by the PLP_ID field.

dst_UDP_port can be a 16-bit unsigned integer field that represents the destination UDP port number of an upper layer session carried in the PLP identified by the PLP_ID field.

SID_flag can be a 1-bit Boolean field that indicates whether the link layer packet carrying the upper layer session identified by above 4 fields, Src_IP_add, Dst_IP_add, Src_UDP_Port and Dst_UDP_Port, has an SID field in its optional header. When the value of this field is set to 0, the link layer packet carrying the upper layer session may not have an SID field in its optional header. When the value of this field is set to 1, the link layer packet carrying the upper layer session can have an SID field in its optional header and the value the SID field can be same as the following SID field in this table.

compressed_flag can be a 1-bit Boolean field that indicates whether the header compression is applied the link layer packets carrying the upper layer session identified by above 4 fields, Src_IP_add, Dst_IP_add, Src_UDP_Port and Dst_UDP_Port. When the value of this field is set to 0, the link layer packet carrying the upper layer session may have a value of 0x00 of Packet_Type field in its base header. When the value of this field is set to 1, the link layer packet carrying the upper layer session may have a value of 0x01 of Packet_Type field in its base header and the Context_ID field can be present.

SID can be an 8-bit unsigned integer field that indicates sub-stream identifier for the link layer packets carrying the upper layer session identified by above 4 fields, Src_IP_add, Dst_IP_add, Src_UDP_Port and Dst_UDP_Port. This field can be present when the value of SID_flag is equal to 1.

context_id can be an 8-bit field that provides a reference for the context id (CID) provided in the ROHC-U description table. This field can be present when the value of compressed_flag is equal to 1.

An example of the RoHC-U description table (tsib14020) according to the present invention is illustrated. As described in the foregoing, the RoHC-U adaptation module may generate information related to header compression.

signaling_type can be an 8-bit field that indicates the type of signaling carried by this table. The value of signaling_type field for ROHC-U description table (RDT) can be set to “0x02”.

PLP_ID can be an 8-bit field that indicates the PLP corresponding to this table.

context_id can be an 8-bit field that indicates the context id (CID) of the compressed IP stream. In this system, 8-bit CID can be used for large CID.

context_profile can be an 8-bit field that indicates the range of protocols used to compress the stream. This field can be omitted.

adaptation_mode can be a 2-bit field that indicates the mode of adaptation module in this PLP. Adaptation modes have been described above.

context_config can be a 2-bit field that indicates the combination of the context information. If there is no context information in this table, this field may be set to ‘0x0’. If the static_chain( ) or dynamic_chain( ) byte is included in this table, this field may be set to ‘0x01’ or ‘0x02’ respectively. If both of the static_chain( ) and dynamic_chain( ) byte are included in this table, this field may be set to ‘0x03’.

context_length can be an 8-bit field that indicates the length of the static chain byte sequence. This field can be omitted.

static_chain_byte ( ) can be a field that conveys the static information used to initialize the ROHC-U decompressor. The size and structure of this field depend on the context profile.

dynamic_chain_byte ( ) can be a field that conveys the dynamic information used to initialize the ROHC-U decompressor. The size and structure of this field depend on the context profile.

The static_chain_byte can be defined as sub-header information of IR packet. The dynamic_chain_byte can be defined as sub-header information of IR packet and IR-DYN packet.

FIG. 15 illustrates a structure of a link layer on a transmitter side according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The present embodiment presumes that an IP packet is processed. From a functional point of view, the link layer on the transmitter side may broadly include a link layer signaling part in which signaling information is processed, an overhead reduction part, and/or an encapsulation part. In addition, the link layer on the transmitter side may include a scheduler for controlling and scheduling an overall operation of the link layer and/or input and output parts of the link layer.

First, signaling information of an upper layer and/or a system parameter tsib15010 may be delivered to the link layer. In addition, an IP stream including IP packets may be delivered to the link layer from an IP layer tsib15110.

As described above, the scheduler tsib15020 may determine and control operations of several modules included in the link layer. The delivered signaling information and/or system parameter tsib15010 may be filterer or used by the scheduler tsib15020. Information, which corresponds to a part of the delivered signaling information and/or system parameter tsib15010, necessary for a receiver may be delivered to the link layer signaling part. In addition, information, which corresponds to a part of the signaling information, necessary for an operation of the link layer may be delivered to an overhead reduction controller tsib15120 or an encapsulation controller tsib15180.

The link layer signaling part may collect information to be transmitted as a signal in a physical layer, and convert/configure the information in a form suitable for transmission. The link layer signaling part may include a signaling manager tsib15030, a signaling formatter tsib15040, and/or a buffer for channels tsib15050.

The signaling manager tsib15030 may receive signaling information delivered from the scheduler tsib15020 and/or signaling (and/or context) information delivered from the overhead reduction part. The signaling manager tsib15030 may determine a path for transmission of the signaling information for delivered data. The signaling information may be delivered through the path determined by the signaling manager tsib15030. As described in the foregoing, signaling information to be transmitted through a divided channel such as the FIC, the EAS, etc. may be delivered to the signaling formatter tsib15040, and other signaling information may be delivered to an encapsulation buffer tsib15070.

The signaling formatter tsib15040 may format related signaling information in a form suitable for each divided channel such that signaling information may be transmitted through a separately divided channel. As described in the foregoing, the physical layer may include separate physically/logically divided channels. The divided channels may be used to transmit FIC signaling information or EAS-related information. The FIC or EAS-related information may be sorted by the signaling manager tsib15030, and input to the signaling formatter tsib15040. The signaling formatter tsib15040 may format the information based on each separate channel. When the physical layer is designed to transmit particular signaling information through a separately divided channel other than the FIC and the EAS, a signaling formatter for the particular signaling information may be additionally provided. Through this scheme, the link layer may be compatible with various physical layers.

The buffer for channels tsib15050 may deliver the signaling information received from the signaling formatter tsib15040 to separate dedicated channels tsib15060. The number and content of the separate channels may vary depending on embodiments.

As described in the foregoing, the signaling manager tsib15030 may deliver signaling information, which is not delivered to a particular channel, to the encapsulation buffer tsib15070. The encapsulation buffer tsib15070 may function as a buffer that receives the signaling information which is not delivered to the particular channel.

An encapsulation block for signaling information tsib15080 may encapsulate the signaling information which is not delivered to the particular channel. A transmission buffer tsib15090 may function as a buffer that delivers the encapsulated signaling information to a DP for signaling information tsib15100. Here, the DP for signaling information tsib15100 may refer to the above-described PLS region.

The overhead reduction part may allow efficient transmission by removing overhead of packets delivered to the link layer. It is possible to configure overhead reduction parts corresponding to the number of IP streams input to the link layer.

An overhead reduction buffer tsib15130 may receive an IP packet delivered from an upper layer. The received IP packet may be input to the overhead reduction part through the overhead reduction buffer tsib15130.

An overhead reduction controller tsib15120 may determine whether to perform overhead reduction on a packet stream input to the overhead reduction buffer tsib15130. The overhead reduction controller tsib15120 may determine whether to perform overhead reduction for each packet stream. When overhead reduction is performed on a packet stream, packets may be delivered to a robust header compression (RoHC) compressor tsib15140 to perform overhead reduction. When overhead reduction is not performed on a packet stream, packets may be delivered to the encapsulation part to perform encapsulation without overhead reduction. Whether to perform overhead reduction of packets may be determined based on the signaling information tsib15010 delivered to the link layer. The signaling information may be delivered to the encapsulation controller tsib15180 by the scheduler tsib15020.

The RoHC compressor tsib15140 may perform overhead reduction on a packet stream. The RoHC compressor tsib15140 may perform an operation of compressing a header of a packet. Various schemes may be used for overhead reduction. Overhead reduction may be performed using a scheme proposed by the present invention. The present invention presumes an IP stream, and thus an expression “RoHC compressor” is used. However, the name may be changed depending on embodiments. The operation is not restricted to compression of the IP stream, and overhead reduction of all types of packets may be performed by the RoHC compressor tsib15140.

A packet stream configuration block tsib15150 may separate information to be transmitted to a signaling region and information to be transmitted to a packet stream from IP packets having compressed headers. The information to be transmitted to the packet stream may refer to information to be transmitted to a DP region. The information to be transmitted to the signaling region may be delivered to a signaling and/or context controller tsib15160.

The information to be transmitted to the packet stream may be transmitted to the encapsulation part.

The signaling and/or context controller tsib15160 may collect signaling and/or context information and deliver the signaling and/or context information to the signaling manager in order to transmit the signaling and/or context information to the signaling region.

The encapsulation part may perform an operation of encapsulating packets in a form suitable for a delivery to the physical layer. It is possible to configure encapsulation parts corresponding to the number of IP streams.

An encapsulation buffer tsib15170 may receive a packet stream for encapsulation. Packets subjected to overhead reduction may be received when overhead reduction is performed, and an input IP packet may be received without change when overhead reduction is not performed.

An encapsulation controller tsib15180 may determine whether to encapsulate an input packet stream. When encapsulation is performed, the packet stream may be delivered to a segmentation/concatenation block tsib15190. When encapsulation is not performed, the packet stream may be delivered to a transmission buffer tsib15230. Whether to encapsulate packets may be determined based on the signaling information tsib15010 delivered to the link layer. The signaling information may be delivered to the encapsulation controller tsib15180 by the scheduler tsib15020.

In the segmentation/concatenation block tsib15190, the above-described segmentation or concatenation operation may be performed on packets. In other words, when an input IP packet is longer than a link layer packet corresponding to an output of the link layer, one IP packet may be segmented into several segments to configure a plurality of link layer packet payloads. On the other hand, when an input IP packet is shorter than a link layer packet corresponding to an output of the link layer, several IP packets may be concatenated to configure one link layer packet payload.

A packet configuration table tsib15200 may have configuration information of a segmented and/or concatenated link layer packet. A transmitter and a receiver may have the same information in the packet configuration table tsib15200. The transmitter and the receiver may refer to the information of the packet configuration table tsib15200. An index value of the information of the packet configuration table tsib15200 may be included in a header of the link layer packet.

A link layer header information block tsib15210 may collect header information generated in an encapsulation process. In addition, the link layer header information block tsib15210 may collect header information included in the packet configuration table tsib15200. The link layer header information block tsib15210 may configure header information according to a header structure of the link layer packet.

A header attachment block tsib15220 may add a header to a payload of a segmented and/or concatenated link layer packet. The transmission buffer tsib15230 may function as a buffer to deliver the link layer packet to a DP tsib15240 of the physical layer.

The respective blocks, modules, or parts may be configured as one module/protocol or a plurality of modules/protocols in the link layer.

FIG. 16 illustrates a structure of a link layer on a receiver side according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The present embodiment presumes that an IP packet is processed. From a functional point of view, the link layer on the receiver side may broadly include a link layer signaling part in which signaling information is processed, an overhead processing part, and/or a decapsulation part. In addition, the link layer on the receiver side may include a scheduler for controlling and scheduling overall operation of the link layer and/or input and output parts of the link layer.

First, information received through a physical layer may be delivered to the link layer. The link layer may process the information, restore an original state before being processed at a transmitter side, and then deliver the information to an upper layer. In the present embodiment, the upper layer may be an IP layer.

Information, which is separated in the physical layer and delivered through a particular channel tsib16030, may be delivered to a link layer signaling part. The link layer signaling part may determine signaling information received from the physical layer, and deliver the determined signaling information to each part of the link layer.

A buffer for channels tsib16040 may function as a buffer that receives signaling information transmitted through particular channels. As described in the foregoing, when physically/logically divided separate channels are present in the physical layer, it is possible to receive signaling information transmitted through the channels. When the information received from the separate channels is segmented, the segmented information may be stored until complete information is configured.

A signaling decoder/parser tsib16050 may verify a format of the signaling information received through the particular channel, and extract information to be used in the link layer. When the signaling information received through the particular channel is encoded, decoding may be performed. In addition, according to a given embodiment, it is possible to verify integrity, etc. of the signaling information.

A signaling manager tsib16060 may integrate signaling information received through several paths. Signaling information received through a DP for signaling tsib16070 to be described below may be integrated in the signaling manager tsib16060. The signaling manager tsib16060 may deliver signaling information necessary for each part in the link layer. For example, the signaling manager tsib16060 may deliver context information, etc. for recovery of a packet to the overhead processing part. In addition, the signaling manager tsib16060 may deliver signaling information for control to a scheduler tsib16020.

General signaling information, which is not received through a separate particular channel, may be received through the DP for signaling tsib16070. Here, the DP for signaling may refer to PLS, L1, etc. Here, the DP may be referred to as a PLP. A reception buffer tsib16080 may function as a buffer that receives signaling information delivered from the DP for signaling. In a decapsulation block for signaling information tsib16090, the received signaling information may be decapsulated. The decapsulated signaling information may be delivered to the signaling manager tsib16060 through a decapsulation buffer tsib16100. As described in the foregoing, the signaling manager tsib16060 may collate signaling information, and deliver the collated signaling information to a necessary part in the link layer.

The scheduler tsib16020 may determine and control operations of several modules included in the link layer. The scheduler tsib16020 may control each part of the link layer using receiver information tsib16010 and/or information delivered from the signaling manager tsib16060. In addition, the scheduler tsib16020 may determine an operation mode, etc. of each part. Here, the receiver information tsib16010 may refer to information previously stored in the receiver. The scheduler tsib16020 may use information changed by a user such as channel switching, etc. to perform a control operation.

The decapsulation part may filter a packet received from a DP tsib16110 of the physical layer, and separate a packet according to a type of the packet. It is possible to configure decapsulation parts corresponding to the number of DPs that can be simultaneously decoded in the physical layer.

The decapsulation buffer tsib16100 may function as a buffer that receives a packet stream from the physical layer to perform decapsulation. A decapsulation controller tsib16130 may determine whether to decapsulate an input packet stream. When decapsulation is performed, the packet stream may be delivered to a link layer header parser tsib16140. When decapsulation is not performed, the packet stream may be delivered to an output buffer tsib16220. The signaling information received from the scheduler tsib16020 may be used to determine whether to perform decapsulation.

The link layer header parser tsib16140 may identify a header of the delivered link layer packet. It is possible to identify a configuration of an IP packet included in a payload of the link layer packet by identifying the header. For example, the IP packet may be segmented or concatenated.

A packet configuration table tsib16150 may include payload information of segmented and/or concatenated link layer packets. The transmitter and the receiver may have the same information in the packet configuration table tsib16150. The transmitter and the receiver may refer to the information of the packet configuration table tsib16150. It is possible to find a value necessary for reassembly based on index information included in the link layer packet.

A reassembly block tsib16160 may configure payloads of the segmented and/or concatenated link layer packets as packets of an original IP stream. Segments may be collected and reconfigured as one IP packet, or concatenated packets may be separated and reconfigured as a plurality of IP packet streams. Recombined IP packets may be delivered to the overhead processing part.

The overhead processing part may perform an operation of restoring a packet subjected to overhead reduction to an original packet as a reverse operation of overhead reduction performed in the transmitter. This operation may be referred to as overhead processing. It is possible to configure overhead processing parts corresponding to the number of DPs that can be simultaneously decoded in the physical layer.

A packet recovery buffer tsib16170 may function as a buffer that receives a decapsulated RoHC packet or IP packet to perform overhead processing.

An overhead controller tsib16180 may determine whether to recover and/or decompress the decapsulated packet. When recovery and/or decompression are performed, the packet may be delivered to a packet stream recovery block tsib16190. When recovery and/or decompression are not performed, the packet may be delivered to the output buffer tsib16220. Whether to perform recovery and/or decompression may be determined based on the signaling information delivered by the scheduler tsib16020.

The packet stream recovery block tsib16190 may perform an operation of integrating a packet stream separated from the transmitter with context information of the packet stream. This operation may be a process of restoring a packet stream such that an RoHC decompressor tsib16210 can perform processing. In this process, it is possible to receive signaling information and/or context information from a signaling and/or context controller tsib16200. The signaling and/or context controller tsib16200 may determine signaling information delivered from the transmitter, and deliver the signaling information to the packet stream recovery block tsib16190 such that the signaling information may be mapped to a stream corresponding to a context ID.

The RoHC decompressor tsib16210 may restore headers of packets of the packet stream. The packets of the packet stream may be restored to forms of original IP packets through restoration of the headers. In other words, the RoHC decompressor tsib16210 may perform overhead processing.

The output buffer tsib16220 may function as a buffer before an output stream is delivered to an IP layer tsib16230.

The link layers of the transmitter and the receiver proposed in the present invention may include the blocks or modules described above. In this way, the link layer may independently operate irrespective of an upper layer and a lower layer, overhead reduction may be efficiently performed, and a supportable function according to an upper/lower layer may be easily defined/added/deleted.

FIG. 17 illustrates a configuration of signaling transmission through a link layer according to an embodiment of the present invention (transmitting/receiving sides).

In the present invention, a plurality of service providers (broadcasters) may provide services within one frequency band. In addition, a service provider may provide a plurality of services, and one service may include one or more components. It can be considered that the user receives content using a service as a unit.

The present invention presumes that a transmission protocol based on a plurality of sessions is used to support an IP hybrid broadcast. Signaling information delivered through a signaling path may be determined based on a transmission configuration of each protocol. Various names may be applied to respective protocols according to a given embodiment.

In the illustrated data configuration tsib17010 on the transmitting side, service providers (broadcasters) may provide a plurality of services (Service #1, #2, . . . ). In general, a signal for a service may be transmitted through a general transmission session (signaling C). However, the signal may be transmitted through a particular session (dedicated session) according to a given embodiment (signaling B).

Service data and service signaling information may be encapsulated according to a transmission protocol. According to a given embodiment, an IP/UDP layer may be used. According to a given embodiment, a signal in the IP/UDP layer (signaling A) may be additionally provided. This signaling may be omitted.

Data processed using the IP/UDP may be input to the link layer. As described in the foregoing, overhead reduction and/or encapsulation may be performed in the link layer. Here, link layer signaling may be additionally provided. Link layer signaling may include a system parameter, etc. Link layer signaling has been described above.

The service data and the signaling information subjected to the above process may be processed through PLPs in a physical layer. Here, a PLP may be referred to as a DP. The example illustrated in the figure presumes a case in which a base DP/PLP is used. However, depending on embodiments, transmission may be performed using only a general DP/PLP without the base DP/PLP.

In the example illustrated in the figure, a particular channel (dedicated channel) such as an FIC, an EAC, etc. is used. A signal delivered through the FIC may be referred to as a fast information table (FIT), and a signal delivered through the EAC may be referred to as an emergency alert table (EAT). The FIT may be identical to the above-described SLT. The particular channels may not be used depending on embodiments. When the particular channel (dedicated channel) is not configured, the FIT and the EAT may be transmitted using a general link layer signaling transmission scheme, or transmitted using a PLP via the IP/UDP as other service data.

According to a given embodiment, system parameters may include a transmitter-related parameter, a service provider-related parameter, etc. Link layer signaling may include IP header compression-related context information and/or identification information of data to which the context is applied. Signaling of an upper layer may include an IP address, a UDP number, service/component information, emergency alert-related information, an IP/UDP address for service signaling, a session ID, etc. Detailed examples thereof have been described above.

In the illustrated data configuration tsib17020 on the receiving side, the receiver may decode only a PLP for a corresponding service using signaling information without having to decode all PLPs.

First, when the user selects or changes a service desired to be received, the receiver may be tuned to a corresponding frequency and may read receiver information related to a corresponding channel stored in a DB, etc. The information stored in the DB, etc. of the receiver may be configured by reading an SLT at the time of initial channel scan.

After receiving the SLT and the information about the corresponding channel, information previously stored in the DB is updated, and information about a transmission path of the service selected by the user and information about a path, through which component information is acquired or a signal necessary to acquire the information is transmitted, are acquired. When the information is not determined to be changed using version information of the SLT, decoding or parsing may be omitted.

The receiver may verify whether SLT information is included in a PLP by parsing physical signaling of the PLP in a corresponding broadcast stream (not illustrated), which may be indicated through a particular field of physical signaling. It is possible to access a position at which a service layer signal of a particular service is transmitted by accessing the SLT information. The service layer signal may be encapsulated into the IP/UDP and delivered through a transmission session. It is possible to acquire information about a component included in the service using this service layer signaling. A specific SLT-SLS configuration is as described above.

In other words, it is possible to acquire transmission path information, for receiving upper layer signaling information (service signaling information) necessary to receive the service, corresponding to one of several packet streams and PLPs currently transmitted on a channel using the SLT. The transmission path information may include an IP address, a UDP port number, a session ID, a PLP_ID, etc. Here, depending on embodiments, a value previously designated by the IANA or a system may be used as an IP/UDP address. The information may be acquired using a scheme of accessing a DB or a shared memory, etc.

When the link layer signal and service data are transmitted through the same PLP, or only one PLP is operated, service data delivered through the PLP may be temporarily stored in a device such as a buffer, etc. while the link layer signal is decoded.

It is possible to acquire information about a path through which the service is actually transmitted using service signaling information of a service to be received. In addition, a received packet stream may be subjected to decapsulation and header recovery using information such as overhead reduction for a PLP to be received, etc.

In the illustrated example (tsib17020), the FIC and the EAC are used, and a concept of the base DP/PLP is presumed. As described in the foregoing, concepts of the FIC, the EAC, and the base DP/PLP may not be used.

While MISO or MIMO uses two antennas in the following for convenience of description, the present invention is applicable to systems using two or more antennas. The present invention proposes a physical profile (or system) optimized to minimize receiver complexity while attaining the performance required for a particular use case. Physical (PHY) profiles (base, handheld and advanced profiles) according to an embodiment of the present invention are subsets of all configurations that a corresponding receiver should implement. The PHY profiles share most of the functional blocks but differ slightly in specific blocks and/or parameters. For the system evolution, future profiles may also be multiplexed with existing profiles in a single radio frequency (RF) channel through a future extension frame (FEF). The base profile and the handheld profile according to the embodiment of the present invention refer to profiles to which MIMO is not applied, and the advanced profile refers to a profile to which MIMO is applied. The base profile may be used as a profile for both the terrestrial broadcast service and the mobile broadcast service. That is, the base profile may be used to define a concept of a profile which includes the mobile profile. In addition, the advanced profile may be divided into an advanced profile for a base profile with MIMO and an advanced profile for a handheld profile with MIMO. Moreover, the profiles may be changed according to intention of the designer.

The following terms and definitions may be applied to the present invention. The following terms and definitions may be changed according to design.

Auxiliary stream: sequence of cells carrying data of as yet undefined modulation and coding, which may be used for future extensions or as required by broadcasters or network operators

Base data pipe: data pipe that carries service signaling data

Baseband frame (or BBFRAME): set of Kbch bits which form the input to one FEC encoding process (BCH and LDPC encoding)

Cell: modulation value that is carried by one carrier of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) transmission

Coded block: LDPC-encoded block of PLS1 data or one of the LDPC-encoded blocks of PLS2 data

Data pipe: logical channel in the physical layer that carries service data or related metadata, which may carry one or a plurality of service(s) or service component(s).

Data pipe unit (DPU): a basic unit for allocating data cells to a DP in a frame.

Data symbol: OFDM symbol in a frame which is not a preamble symbol (the data symbol encompasses the frame signaling symbol and frame edge symbol)

DP_ID: this 8-bit field identifies uniquely a DP within the system identified by the SYSTEM_ID

Dummy cell: cell carrying a pseudo-random value used to fill the remaining capacity not used for PLS signaling, DPs or auxiliary streams

Emergency alert channel (EAC): part of a frame that carries EAS information data

Frame: physical layer time slot that starts with a preamble and ends with a frame edge symbol

Frame repetition unit: a set of frames belonging to the same or different physical layer profiles including an FEF, which is repeated eight times in a superframe

Fast information channel (FIC): a logical channel in a frame that carries mapping information between a service and the corresponding base DP

FECBLOCK: set of LDPC-encoded bits of DP data

FFT size: nominal FFT size used for a particular mode, equal to the active symbol period Ts expressed in cycles of an elementary period T

Frame signaling symbol: OFDM symbol with higher pilot density used at the start of a frame in certain combinations of FFT size, guard interval and scattered pilot pattern, which carries a part of the PLS data

Frame edge symbol: OFDM symbol with higher pilot density used at the end of a frame in certain combinations of FFT size, guard interval and scattered pilot pattern

Frame group: the set of all frames having the same PHY profile type in a superframe.

Future extension frame: physical layer time slot within the superframe that may be used for future extension, which starts with a preamble

Futurecast UTB system: proposed physical layer broadcast system, the input of which is one or more MPEG2-TS, IP or general stream(s) and the output of which is an RF signal

Input stream: a stream of data for an ensemble of services delivered to the end users by the system

Normal data symbol: data symbol excluding the frame signaling symbol and the frame edge symbol

PHY profile: subset of all configurations that a corresponding receiver should implement

PLS: physical layer signaling data including PLS1 and PLS2

PLS1: a first set of PLS data carried in a frame signaling symbol (FSS) having a fixed size, coding and modulation, which carries basic information about a system as well as parameters needed to decode PLS2

NOTE: PLS1 data remains constant for the duration of a frame group

PLS2: a second set of PLS data transmitted in the FSS, which carries more detailed PLS data about the system and the DPs

PLS2 dynamic data: PLS2 data that dynamically changes frame-by-frame

PLS2 static data: PLS2 data that remains static for the duration of a frame group

Preamble signaling data: signaling data carried by the preamble symbol and used to identify the basic mode of the system

Preamble symbol: fixed-length pilot symbol that carries basic PLS data and is located at the beginning of a frame

The preamble symbol is mainly used for fast initial band scan to detect the system signal, timing thereof, frequency offset, and FFT size.

Reserved for future use: not defined by the present document but may be defined in future

Superframe: set of eight frame repetition units

Time interleaving block (TI block): set of cells within which time interleaving is carried out, corresponding to one use of a time interleaver memory

TI group: unit over which dynamic capacity allocation for a particular DP is carried out, made up of an integer, dynamically varying number of XFECBLOCKs

NOTE: The TI group may be mapped directly to one frame or may be mapped to a plurality of frames. The TI group may contain one or more TI blocks.

Type 1 DP: DP of a frame where all DPs are mapped to the frame in time division multiplexing (TDM) scheme

Type 2 DP: DP of a frame where all DPs are mapped to the frame in frequency division multiplexing (FDM) scheme

XFECBLOCK: set of N_(cells) cells carrying all the bits of one LDPC FECBLOCK

FIG. 18 illustrates a configuration of a broadcast signal transmission apparatus for future broadcast services according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The broadcast signal transmission apparatus for future broadcast services according to the present embodiment may include an input formatting block 1000, a bit interleaved coding & modulation (BICM) block 1010, a frame building block 1020, an OFDM generation block 1030 and a signaling generation block 1040. Description will be given of an operation of each block of the broadcast signal transmission apparatus.

In input data according to an embodiment of the present invention, IP stream/packets and MPEG2-TS may be main input formats, and other stream types are handled as general streams. In addition to these data inputs, management information is input to control scheduling and allocation of the corresponding bandwidth for each input stream. In addition, the present invention allows simultaneous input of one or a plurality of TS streams, IP stream(s) and/or a general stream(s).

The input formatting block 1000 may demultiplex each input stream into one or a plurality of data pipes, to each of which independent coding and modulation are applied. A DP is the basic unit for robustness control, which affects QoS. One or a plurality of services or service components may be carried by one DR The DP is a logical channel in a physical layer for delivering service data or related metadata capable of carrying one or a plurality of services or service components.

In addition, a DPU is a basic unit for allocating data cells to a DP in one frame.

An input to the physical layer may include one or a plurality of data streams. Each of the data streams is delivered by one DP. The input formatting block 1000 may covert a data stream input through one or more physical paths (or DPs) into a baseband frame (BBF). In this case, the input formatting block 1000 may perform null packet deletion or header compression on input data (a TS or IP input stream) in order to enhance transmission efficiency. A receiver may have a priori information for a particular part of a header, and thus this known information may be deleted from a transmitter. A null packet deletion block 3030 may be used only for a TS input stream.

In the BICM block 1010, parity data is added for error correction and encoded bit streams are mapped to complex-value constellation symbols. The symbols are interleaved across a specific interleaving depth that is used for the corresponding DP. For the advanced profile, MIMO encoding is performed in the BICM block 1010 and an additional data path is added at the output for MIMO transmission.

The frame building block 1020 may map the data cells of the input DPs into the OFDM symbols within a frame, and perform frequency interleaving for frequency-domain diversity, especially to combat frequency-selective fading channels. The frame building block 1020 may include a delay compensation block, a cell mapper and a frequency interleaver.

The delay compensation block may adjust timing between DPs and corresponding PLS data to ensure that the DPs and the corresponding PLS data are co-timed at a transmitter side. The PLS data is delayed by the same amount as the data pipes by addressing the delays of data pipes caused by the input formatting block and BICM block. The delay of the BICM block is mainly due to the time interleaver. In-band signaling data carries information of the next TI group so that the information is carried one frame ahead of the DPs to be signaled. The delay compensation block delays in-band signaling data accordingly.

The cell mapper may map PLS, DPs, auxiliary streams, dummy cells, etc. to active carriers of the OFDM symbols in the frame. The basic function of the cell mapper 7010 is to map data cells produced by the TIs for each of the DPs, PLS cells, and EAC/FIC cells, if any, into arrays of active OFDM cells corresponding to each of the OFDM symbols within a frame. A basic function of the cell mapper is to map a data cell generated by time interleaving for each DP and PLS cell to an array of active OFDM cells (if present) corresponding to respective OFDM symbols in one frame. Service signaling data (such as program specific information (PSI)/SI) may be separately gathered and sent by a DP. The cell mapper operates according to dynamic information produced by a scheduler and the configuration of a frame structure. The frequency interleaver may randomly interleave data cells received from the cell mapper to provide frequency diversity. In addition, the frequency interleaver may operate on an OFDM symbol pair including two sequential OFDM symbols using a different interleaving-seed order to obtain maximum interleaving gain in a single frame.

The OFDM generation block 1030 modulates OFDM carriers by cells produced by the frame building block, inserts pilots, and produces a time domain signal for transmission. In addition, this block subsequently inserts guard intervals, and applies peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) reduction processing to produce a final RF signal.

Specifically, after inserting a preamble at the beginning of each frame, the OFDM generation block 1030 may apply conventional OFDM modulation having a cyclic prefix as a guard interval. For antenna space diversity, a distributed MISO scheme is applied across transmitters. In addition, a PAPR scheme is performed in the time domain. For flexible network planning, the present invention provides a set of various FFT sizes, guard interval lengths and corresponding pilot patterns.

In addition, the present invention may multiplex signals of a plurality of broadcast transmission/reception systems in the time domain such that data of two or more different broadcast transmission/reception systems providing broadcast services may be simultaneously transmitted in the same RF signal bandwidth. In this case, the two or more different broadcast transmission/reception systems refer to systems providing different broadcast services. The different broadcast services may refer to a terrestrial broadcast service, mobile broadcast service, etc.

The signaling generation block 1040 may create physical layer signaling information used for an operation of each functional block. This signaling information is also transmitted so that services of interest are properly recovered at a receiver side. Signaling information according to an embodiment of the present invention may include PLS data. PLS provides the receiver with a means to access physical layer DPs. The PLS data includes PLS1 data and PLS2 data.

The PLS1 data is a first set of PLS data carried in an FSS symbol in a frame having a fixed size, coding and modulation, which carries basic information about the system in addition to the parameters needed to decode the PLS2 data. The PLS1 data provides basic transmission parameters including parameters required to enable reception and decoding of the PLS2 data. In addition, the PLS1 data remains constant for the duration of a frame group.

The PLS2 data is a second set of PLS data transmitted in an FSS symbol, which carries more detailed PLS data about the system and the DPs. The PLS2 contains parameters that provide sufficient information for the receiver to decode a desired DP. The PLS2 signaling further includes two types of parameters, PLS2 static data (PLS2-STAT data) and PLS2 dynamic data (PLS2-DYN data). The PLS2 static data is PLS2 data that remains static for the duration of a frame group and the PLS2 dynamic data is PLS2 data that dynamically changes frame by frame. Details of the PLS data will be described later.

The above-described blocks may be omitted or replaced by blocks having similar or identical functions.

FIG. 19 illustrates a BICM block according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The BICM block illustrated in FIG. 22 corresponds to an embodiment of the BICM block 1010 described with reference to FIG. 18.

As described above, the broadcast signal transmission apparatus for future broadcast services according to the embodiment of the present invention may provide a terrestrial broadcast service, mobile broadcast service, UHDTV service, etc.

Since QoS depends on characteristics of a service provided by the broadcast signal transmission apparatus for future broadcast services according to the embodiment of the present invention, data corresponding to respective services needs to be processed using different schemes. Accordingly, the BICM block according to the embodiment of the present invention may independently process respective DPs by independently applying SISO, MISO and MIMO schemes to data pipes respectively corresponding to data paths. Consequently, the broadcast signal transmission apparatus for future broadcast services according to the embodiment of the present invention may control QoS for each service or service component transmitted through each DP.

(a) shows a BICM block applied to a profile (or system) to which MIMO is not applied, and (b) shows a BICM block of a profile (or system) to which MIMO is applied.

The BICM block to which MIMO is not applied and the BICM block to which MIMO is applied may include a plurality of processing blocks for processing each DP.

Description will be given of each processing block of the BICM block to which MIMO is not applied and the BICM block to which MIMO is applied.

A processing block 5000 of the BICM block to which MIMO is not applied may include a data FEC encoder 5010, a bit interleaver 5020, a constellation mapper 5030, a signal space diversity (SSD) encoding block 5040 and a time interleaver 5050.

The data FEC encoder 5010 performs FEC encoding on an input BBF to generate FECBLOCK procedure using outer coding (BCH) and inner coding (LDPC). The outer coding (BCH) is optional coding method. A detailed operation of the data FEC encoder 5010 will be described later.

The bit interleaver 5020 may interleave outputs of the data FEC encoder 5010 to achieve optimized performance with a combination of LDPC codes and a modulation scheme while providing an efficiently implementable structure. A detailed operation of the bit interleaver 5020 will be described later.

The constellation mapper 5030 may modulate each cell word from the bit interleaver 5020 in the base and the handheld profiles, or each cell word from the cell-word demultiplexer 5010-1 in the advanced profile using either QPSK, QAM-16, non-uniform QAM (NUQ-64, NUQ-256, or NUQ-1024) or non-uniform constellation (NUC-16, NUC-64, NUC-256, or NUC-1024) mapping to give a power-normalized constellation point, e₁. This constellation mapping is applied only for DPs. It is observed that QAM-16 and NUQs are square shaped, while NUCs have arbitrary shapes. When each constellation is rotated by any multiple of 90 degrees, the rotated constellation exactly overlaps with its original one. This “rotation-sense” symmetric property makes the capacities and the average powers of the real and imaginary components equal to each other. Both NUQs and NUCs are defined specifically for each code rate and the particular one used is signaled by the parameter DP_MOD filed in the PLS2 data.

The time interleaver 5050 may operates at a DP level. Parameters of time interleaving (TI) may be set differently for each DR A detailed operation of the time interleaver 5050 will be described later.

A processing block 5000-1 of the BICM block to which MIMO is applied may include the data FEC encoder, the bit interleaver, the constellation mapper, and the time interleaver.

However, the processing block 5000-1 is distinguished from the processing block 5000 of the BICM block to which MIMO is not applied in that the processing block 5000-1 further includes a cell-word demultiplexer 5010-1 and a MIMO encoding block 5020-1.

In addition, operations of the data FEC encoder, the bit interleaver, the constellation mapper, and the time interleaver in the processing block 5000-1 correspond to those of the data FEC encoder 5010, the bit interleaver 5020, the constellation mapper 5030, and the time interleaver 5050 described above, and thus description thereof is omitted.

The cell-word demultiplexer 5010-1 is used for a DP of the advanced profile to divide a single cell-word stream into dual cell-word streams for MIMO processing.

The MIMO encoding block 5020-1 may process an output of the cell-word demultiplexer 5010-1 using a MIMO encoding scheme. The MIMO encoding scheme is optimized for broadcast signal transmission. MIMO technology is a promising way to obtain a capacity increase but depends on channel characteristics. Especially for broadcasting, a strong LOS component of a channel or a difference in received signal power between two antennas caused by different signal propagation characteristics makes it difficult to obtain capacity gain from MIMO. The proposed MIMO encoding scheme overcomes this problem using rotation-based precoding and phase randomization of one of MIMO output signals.

MIMO encoding is intended for a 2×2 MIMO system requiring at least two antennas at both the transmitter and the receiver. A MIMO encoding mode of the present invention may be defined as full-rate spatial multiplexing (FR-SM). FR-SM encoding may provide capacity increase with relatively small complexity increase at the receiver side. In addition, the MIMO encoding scheme of the present invention has no restriction on an antenna polarity configuration.

MIMO processing is applied at the DP level. NUQ (e_(1,i) and e_(2,i)) corresponding to a pair of constellation mapper outputs is fed to an input of a MIMO encoder. Paired MIMO encoder output (g1,i and g2,i) is transmitted by the same carrier k and OFDM symbol 1 of respective TX antennas thereof.

The above-described blocks may be omitted or replaced by blocks having similar or identical functions.

FIG. 20 illustrates a BICM block according to another embodiment of the present invention.

The BICM block illustrated in FIG. 20 corresponds to another embodiment of the BICM block 1010 described with reference to FIG. 18.

FIG. 20 illustrates a BICM block for protection of physical layer signaling (PLS), an emergency alert channel (EAC) and a fast information channel (FIC). The EAC is a part of a frame that carries EAS information data, and the FIC is a logical channel in a frame that carries mapping information between a service and a corresponding base DP. Details of the EAC and FIC will be described later.

Referring to FIG. 20, the BICM block for protection of the PLS, the EAC and the FIC may include a PLS FEC encoder 6000, a bit interleaver 6010 and a constellation mapper 6020.

In addition, the PLS FEC encoder 6000 may include a scrambler, a BCH encoding/zero insertion block, an LDPC encoding block and an LDPC parity puncturing block. Description will be given of each block of the BICM block.

The PLS FEC encoder 6000 may encode scrambled PLS 1/2 data, EAC and FIC sections.

The scrambler may scramble PLS1 data and PLS2 data before BCH encoding and shortened and punctured LDPC encoding.

The BCH encoding/zero insertion block may perform outer encoding on the scrambled PLS 1/2 data using a shortened BCH code for PLS protection, and insert zero bits after BCH encoding. For PLS1 data only, output bits of zero insertion may be permitted before LDPC encoding.

The LDPC encoding block may encode an output of the BCH encoding/zero insertion block using an LDPC code. To generate a complete coded block, C_(ldpc) and parity bits P_(ldpc) are encoded systematically from each zero-inserted PLS information block I_(ldpc) and appended thereto.

C _(ldpc) =[I _(ldpc) P _(ldpc) ]=[i ₀ ,i ₁ , . . . ,i _(K) _(ldpc) ₋₁ ,p ₀ ,p ₁ , . . . ,p _(N) _(ldpc) _(-K) _(ldpc) ₋₁]  [Equation 1]

The LDPC parity puncturing block may perform puncturing on the PLS1 data and the PLS2 data.

When shortening is applied to PLS1 data protection, some LDPC parity bits are punctured after LDPC encoding. In addition, for PLS2 data protection, LDPC parity bits of PLS2 are punctured after LDPC encoding. These punctured bits are not transmitted.

The bit interleaver 6010 may interleave each of shortened and punctured PLS1 data and PLS2 data.

The constellation mapper 6020 may map the bit-interleaved PLS1 data and PLS2 data to constellations.

The above-described blocks may be omitted or replaced by blocks having similar or identical functions.

FIG. 21 illustrates a bit interleaving process of PLS according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Each shortened and punctured PLS1 and PLS2 coded block is interleaved bit-by-bit as described in FIG. 22. Each block of additional parity bits is interleaved with the same block interleaving structure but separately.

In the case of BPSK, there are two branches for bit interleaving to duplicate FEC coded bits in the real and imaginary parts. Each coded block is written to the upper branch first. The bits are mapped to the lower branch by applying modulo N_(FEC) addition with cyclic shifting value floor(N_(FEC)/2), where N_(FEC) is the length of each LDPC coded block after shortening and puncturing.

In other modulation cases, such as QSPK, QAM-16 and NUQ-64, FEC coded bits are written serially into the interleaver column-wise, where the number of columns is the same as the modulation order.

In the read operation, the bits for one constellation symbol are read out sequentially row-wise and fed into the bit demultiplexer block. These operations are continued until the end of the column.

Each bit interleaved group is demultiplexed bit-by-bit in a group before constellation mapping. Depending on modulation order, there are two mapping rules. In the case of BPSK and QPSK, the reliability of bits in a symbol is equal. Therefore, the bit group read out from the bit interleaving block is mapped to a QAM symbol without any operation.

In the cases of QAM-16 and NUQ-64 mapped to a QAM symbol, the rule of operation is described in FIG. 23 (a). As shown in FIG. 23 (a), i is bit group index corresponding to column index in bit interleaving.

FIG. 21 shows the bit demultiplexing rule for QAM-16. This operation continues until all bit groups are read from the bit interleaving block.

FIG. 22 illustrates a configuration of a broadcast signal reception apparatus for future broadcast services according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The broadcast signal reception apparatus for future broadcast services according to the embodiment of the present invention may correspond to the broadcast signal transmission apparatus for future broadcast services described with reference to FIG. 18.

The broadcast signal reception apparatus for future broadcast services according to the embodiment of the present invention may include a synchronization & demodulation module 9000, a frame parsing module 9010, a demapping & decoding module 9020, an output processor 9030 and a signaling decoding module 9040. A description will be given of operation of each module of the broadcast signal reception apparatus.

The synchronization & demodulation module 9000 may receive input signals through m Rx antennas, perform signal detection and synchronization with respect to a system corresponding to the broadcast signal reception apparatus, and carry out demodulation corresponding to a reverse procedure of a procedure performed by the broadcast signal transmission apparatus.

The frame parsing module 9010 may parse input signal frames and extract data through which a service selected by a user is transmitted. If the broadcast signal transmission apparatus performs interleaving, the frame parsing module 9010 may carry out deinterleaving corresponding to a reverse procedure of interleaving. In this case, positions of a signal and data that need to be extracted may be obtained by decoding data output from the signaling decoding module 9040 to restore scheduling information generated by the broadcast signal transmission apparatus.

The demapping & decoding module 9020 may convert input signals into bit domain data and then deinterleave the same as necessary. The demapping & decoding module 9020 may perform demapping of mapping applied for transmission efficiency and correct an error generated on a transmission channel through decoding. In this case, the demapping & decoding module 9020 may obtain transmission parameters necessary for demapping and decoding by decoding data output from the signaling decoding module 9040.

The output processor 9030 may perform reverse procedures of various compression/signal processing procedures which are applied by the broadcast signal transmission apparatus to improve transmission efficiency. In this case, the output processor 9030 may acquire necessary control information from data output from the signaling decoding module 9040. An output of the output processor 9030 corresponds to a signal input to the broadcast signal transmission apparatus and may be MPEG-TSs, IP streams (v4 or v6) and generic streams.

The signaling decoding module 9040 may obtain PLS information from a signal demodulated by the synchronization & demodulation module 9000. As described above, the frame parsing module 9010, the demapping & decoding module 9020 and the output processor 9030 may execute functions thereof using data output from the signaling decoding module 9040.

A frame according to an embodiment of the present invention is further divided into a number of OFDM symbols and a preamble. As shown in (d), the frame includes a preamble, one or more frame signaling symbols (FSSs), normal data symbols and a frame edge symbol (FES).

The preamble is a special symbol that enables fast futurecast UTB system signal detection and provides a set of basic transmission parameters for efficient transmission and reception of a signal. Details of the preamble will be described later.

A main purpose of the FSS is to carry PLS data. For fast synchronization and channel estimation, and hence fast decoding of PLS data, the FSS has a dense pilot pattern than a normal data symbol. The FES has exactly the same pilots as the FSS, which enables frequency-only interpolation within the FES and temporal interpolation, without extrapolation, for symbols immediately preceding the FES.

FIG. 23 illustrates a signaling hierarchy structure of a frame according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 23 illustrates the signaling hierarchy structure, which is split into three main parts corresponding to preamble signaling data 11000, PLS1 data 11010 and PLS2 data 11020. A purpose of a preamble, which is carried by a preamble symbol in every frame, is to indicate a transmission type and basic transmission parameters of the frame. PLS1 enables the receiver to access and decode the PLS2 data, which contains the parameters to access a DP of interest. PLS2 is carried in every frame and split into two main parts corresponding to PLS2-STAT data and PLS2-DYN data. Static and dynamic portions of PLS2 data are followed by padding, if necessary.

Preamble signaling data according to an embodiment of the present invention carries 21 bits of information that are needed to enable the receiver to access PLS data and trace DPs within the frame structure. Details of the preamble signaling data are as follows.

FFT_SIZE: This 2-bit field indicates an FFT size of a current frame within a frame group as described in the following Table 1.

TABLE 1 Value FFT size 00  8K FFT 01 16K FFT 10 32K FFT 11 Reserved

GI_FRACTION: This 3-bit field indicates a guard interval fraction value in a current superframe as described in the following Table 2.

TABLE 2 Value GI_FRACTION 000 1/5  001 1/10 010 1/20 011 1/40 100 1/80 101  1/160 110 to 111 Reserved

EAC_FLAG: This 1-bit field indicates whether the EAC is provided in a current frame. If this field is set to ‘1’, an emergency alert service (EAS) is provided in the current frame. If this field set to ‘0’, the EAS is not carried in the current frame. This field may be switched dynamically within a superframe.

PILOT_MODE: This 1-bit field indicates whether a pilot mode is a mobile mode or a fixed mode for a current frame in a current frame group. If this field is set to ‘0’, the mobile pilot mode is used. If the field is set to ‘1’, the fixed pilot mode is used.

PAPR_FLAG: This 1-bit field indicates whether PAPR reduction is used for a current frame in a current frame group. If this field is set to a value of ‘1’, tone reservation is used for PAPR reduction. If this field is set to a value of 0′, PAPR reduction is not used.

RESERVED: This 7-bit field is reserved for future use.

FIG. 24 illustrates PLS1 data according to an embodiment of the present invention.

PLS1 data provides basic transmission parameters including parameters required to enable reception and decoding of PLS2. As mentioned above, the PLS1 data remain unchanged for the entire duration of one frame group. A detailed definition of the signaling fields of the PLS1 data is as follows.

PREAMBLE_DATA: This 20-bit field is a copy of preamble signaling data excluding EAC_FLAG.

NUM_FRAME_FRU: This 2-bit field indicates the number of the frames per FRU.

PAYLOAD_TYPE: This 3-bit field indicates a format of payload data carried in a frame group. PAYLOAD_TYPE is signaled as shown in Table 3.

TABLE 3 Value Payload type 1XX TS is transmitted. X1X IP stream is transmitted. XX1 GS is transmitted.

NUM_FSS: This 2-bit field indicates the number of FSSs in a current frame.

SYSTEM_VERSION: This 8-bit field indicates a version of a transmitted signal format. SYSTEM_VERSION is divided into two 4-bit fields: a major version and a minor version.

Major version: The MSB corresponding to four bits of the SYSTEM_VERSION field indicate major version information. A change in the major version field indicates a non-backward-compatible change. A default value is ‘0000’. For a version described in this standard, a value is set to ‘0000’.

Minor version: The LSB corresponding to four bits of SYSTEM_VERSION field indicate minor version information. A change in the minor version field is backwards compatible.

CELL_ID: This is a 16-bit field which uniquely identifies a geographic cell in an ATSC network. An ATSC cell coverage area may include one or more frequencies depending on the number of frequencies used per futurecast UTB system. If a value of CELL_ID is not known or unspecified, this field is set to ‘0’.

NETWORK_ID: This is a 16-bit field which uniquely identifies a current ATSC network.

SYSTEM_ID: This 16-bit field uniquely identifies the futurecast UTB system within the ATSC network. The futurecast UTB system is a terrestrial broadcast system whose input is one or more input streams (TS, IP, GS) and whose output is an RF signal. The futurecast UTB system carries one or more PHY profiles and FEF, if any. The same futurecast UTB system may carry different input streams and use different RFs in different geographical areas, allowing local service insertion. The frame structure and scheduling are controlled in one place and are identical for all transmissions within the futurecast UTB system. One or more futurecast UTB systems may have the same SYSTEM_ID meaning that they all have the same physical layer structure and configuration.

The following loop includes FRU_PHY_PROFILE, FRU_FRAME_LENGTH, FRU_GI_FRACTION, and RESERVED which are used to indicate an FRU configuration and a length of each frame type. A loop size is fixed so that four PHY profiles (including an FEF) are signaled within the FRU. If NUM_FRAME_FRU is less than 4, unused fields are filled with zeros.

FRU_PHY_PROFILE: This 3-bit field indicates a PHY profile type of an (i+1)^(th) (i is a loop index) frame of an associated FRU. This field uses the same signaling format as shown in Table 8.

FRU_FRAME_LENGTH: This 2-bit field indicates a length of an (i+1)^(th) frame of an associated FRU. Using FRU_FRAME_LENGTH together with FRU_GI_FRACTION, an exact value of a frame duration may be obtained.

FRU_GI_FRACTION: This 3-bit field indicates a guard interval fraction value of an (i+1)^(th) frame of an associated FRU. FRU_GI_FRACTION is signaled according to Table 7.

RESERVED: This 4-bit field is reserved for future use.

The following fields provide parameters for decoding the PLS2 data.

PLS2_FEC_TYPE: This 2-bit field indicates an FEC type used by PLS2 protection. The FEC type is signaled according to Table 4. Details of LDPC codes will be described later.

TABLE 4 Content PLS2 FEC type 00 4K-1/4 and 7K-3/10 LDPC codes 01 to 11 Reserved

PLS2_MOD: This 3-bit field indicates a modulation type used by PLS2. The modulation type is signaled according to Table 5.

TABLE 5 Value PLS2_MODE 000 BPSK 001 QPSK 010 QAM-16 011 NUQ-64 100 to 111 Reserved

PLS2_SIZE_CELL: This 15-bit field indicates C_(total) _(_) _(partial) _(_) _(block), a size (specified as the number of QAM cells) of the collection of full coded blocks for PLS2 that is carried in a current frame group. This value is constant during the entire duration of the current frame group.

PLS2_STAT_SIZE_BIT: This 14-bit field indicates a size, in bits, of PLS2-STAT for a current frame group. This value is constant during the entire duration of the current frame group.

PLS2_DYN_SIZE_BIT: This 14-bit field indicates a size, in bits, of PLS2-DYN for a current frame group. This value is constant during the entire duration of the current frame group.

PLS2_REP_FLAG: This 1-bit flag indicates whether a PLS2 repetition mode is used in a current frame group. When this field is set to a value of ‘I’, the PLS2 repetition mode is activated. When this field is set to a value of ‘0’, the PLS2 repetition mode is deactivated.

PLS2 REP_SIZE_CELL: This 15-bit field indicates C_(total) _(_) _(partial) _(_) _(block), a size (specified as the number of QAM cells) of the collection of partial coded blocks for PLS2 carried in every frame of a current frame group, when PLS2 repetition is used. If repetition is not used, a value of this field is equal to 0. This value is constant during the entire duration of the current frame group.

PLS2 NEXT_FEC_TYPE: This 2-bit field indicates an FEC type used for PLS2 that is carried in every frame of a next frame group. The FEC type is signaled according to Table 10.

PLS2 NEXT_MOD: This 3-bit field indicates a modulation type used for PLS2 that is carried in every frame of a next frame group. The modulation type is signaled according to Table 11.

PLS2_NEXT_REP_FLAG: This 1-bit flag indicates whether the PLS2 repetition mode is used in a next frame group. When this field is set to a value of ‘1’, the PLS2 repetition mode is activated. When this field is set to a value of ‘0’, the PLS2 repetition mode is deactivated.

PLS2 NEXT_REP_SIZE_CELL: This 15-bit field indicates C_(total) _(_) _(full) _(_) _(block), a size (specified as the number of QAM cells) of the collection of full coded blocks for PLS2 that is carried in every frame of a next frame group, when PLS2 repetition is used. If repetition is not used in the next frame group, a value of this field is equal to 0. This value is constant during the entire duration of a current frame group.

PLS2_NEXT_REP_STAT_SIZE_BIT: This 14-bit field indicates a size, in bits, of PLS2-STAT for a next frame group. This value is constant in a current frame group.

PLS2_NEXT_REP_DYN_SIZE_BIT: This 14-bit field indicates the size, in bits, of the PLS2-DYN for a next frame group. This value is constant in a current frame group.

PLS2_AP_MODE: This 2-bit field indicates whether additional parity is provided for PLS2 in a current frame group. This value is constant during the entire duration of the current frame group. Table 6 below provides values of this field. When this field is set to a value of ‘00’, additional parity is not used for the PLS2 in the current frame group.

TABLE 6 Value PLS2-AP mode 00 AP is not provided 01 AP1 mode 10 to 11 Reserved

PLS2_AP_SIZE_CELL: This 15-bit field indicates a size (specified as the number of QAM cells) of additional parity bits of PLS2. This value is constant during the entire duration of a current frame group.

PLS2_NEXT_AP_MODE: This 2-bit field indicates whether additional parity is provided for PLS2 signaling in every frame of a next frame group. This value is constant during the entire duration of a current frame group. Table 12 defines values of this field

PLS2_NEXT_AP_SIZE_CELL: This 15-bit field indicates a size (specified as the number of QAM cells) of additional parity bits of PLS2 in every frame of a next frame group. This value is constant during the entire duration of a current frame group.

RESERVED: This 32-bit field is reserved for future use.

CRC_32: A 32-bit error detection code, which is applied to all PLS1 signaling.

FIG. 25 illustrates PLS2 data according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 25 illustrates PLS2-STAT data of the PLS2 data. The PLS2-STAT data is the same within a frame group, while PLS2-DYN data provides information that is specific for a current frame.

Details of fields of the PLS2-STAT data are described below.

FIC_FLAG: This 1-bit field indicates whether the FIC is used in a current frame group. If this field is set to ‘1’, the FIC is provided in the current frame. If this field set to ‘0’, the FIC is not carried in the current frame. This value is constant during the entire duration of a current frame group.

AUX_FLAG: This 1-bit field indicates whether an auxiliary stream is used in a current frame group. If this field is set to ‘1’, the auxiliary stream is provided in a current frame. If this field set to ‘0’, the auxiliary stream is not carried in the current frame. This value is constant during the entire duration of current frame group.

NUM_DP: This 6-bit field indicates the number of DPs carried within a current frame. A value of this field ranges from 1 to 64, and the number of DPs is NUM_DP+1.

DP_ID: This 6-bit field identifies uniquely a DP within a PHY profile.

DP_TYPE: This 3-bit field indicates a type of a DR This is signaled according to the following Table 7.

TABLE 7 Value DP Type 000 DP Type 1 001 DP Type 2 010 to 111 Reserved

DP_GROUP_ID: This 8-bit field identifies a DP group with which a current DP is associated. This may be used by the receiver to access DPs of service components associated with a particular service having the same DP_GROUP_ID.

BASE_DP_ID: This 6-bit field indicates a DP carrying service signaling data (such as PSI/SI) used in a management layer. The DP indicated by BASE_DP_ID may be either a normal DP carrying the service signaling data along with service data or a dedicated DP carrying only the service signaling data.

DP_FEC_TYPE: This 2-bit field indicates an FEC type used by an associated DP. The FEC type is signaled according to the following Table 8.

TABLE 8 Value FEC_TYPE 00 16K LDPC 01 64K LDPC 10 to 11 Reserved

DP_COD: This 4-bit field indicates a code rate used by an associated DP. The code rate is signaled according to the following Table 9.

TABLE 9 Value Code rate 0000 5/15 0001 6/15 0010 7/15 0011 8/15 0100 9/15 0101 10/15  0110 11/15  0111 12/15  1000 13/15  1001 to 1111 Reserved

DP_MOD: This 4-bit field indicates modulation used by an associated DR The modulation is signaled according to the following Table 10.

TABLE 10 Value Modulation 0000 QPSK 0001 QAM-16 0010 NUQ-64 0011 NUQ-256 0100 NUQ-1024 0101 NUC-16 0110 NUC-64 0111 NUC-256 1000 NUC-1024 1001 to 1111 Reserved

DP_SSD_FLAG: This 1-bit field indicates whether an SSD mode is used in an associated DR If this field is set to a value of ‘1’, SSD is used. If this field is set to a value of ‘0’, SSD is not used.

The following field appears only if PHY_PROFILE is equal to ‘010’, which indicates the advanced profile:

DP_MIMO: This 3-bit field indicates which type of MIMO encoding process is applied to an associated DR A type of MIMO encoding process is signaled according to the following Table 11.

TABLE 11 Value MIMO encoding 000 FR-SM 001 FRFD-SM 010 to 111 Reserved

DP_TI_TYPE: This 1-bit field indicates a type of time interleaving. A value of ‘0’ indicates that one TI group corresponds to one frame and contains one or more TI blocks. A value of ‘1’ indicates that one TI group is carried in more than one frame and contains only one TI block.

DP_TI_LENGTH: The use of this 2-bit field (allowed values are only 1, 2, 4, and 8) is determined by values set within the DP_TI_TYPE field as follows.

If DP_TI_TYPE is set to a value of ‘1’, this field indicates P₁, the number of frames to which each TI group is mapped, and one TI block is present per TI group (N_(TI)=1). Allowed values of P₁ with the 2-bit field are defined in Table 12 below.

If DP_TI_TYPE is set to a value of ‘0’, this field indicates the number of TI blocks N_(TI) per TI group, and one TI group is present per frame (P₁=1). Allowed values of P₁ with the 2-bit field are defined in the following Table 12.

TABLE 12 2-bit field P_(I) N_(TI) 00 1 1 01 2 2 10 4 3 11 8 4

DP_FRAME_INTERVAL: This 2-bit field indicates a frame interval (I_(JUMP)) within a frame group for an associated DP and allowed values are 1, 2, 4, and 8 (the corresponding 2-bit field is ‘00’, ‘01’, ‘10’, or ‘11’, respectively). For DPs that do not appear every frame of the frame group, a value of this field is equal to an interval between successive frames. For example, if a DP appears on frames 1, 5, 9, 13, etc., this field is set to a value of ‘4’. For DPs that appear in every frame, this field is set to a value of ‘1’.

DP_TI_BYPASS: This 1-bit field determines availability of the time interleaver 5050. If time interleaving is not used for a DP, a value of this field is set to ‘1’. If time interleaving is used, the value is set to ‘0’.

DP_FIRST_FRAME_IDX: This 5-bit field indicates an index of a first frame of a superframe in which a current DP occurs. A value of DP_FIRST_FRAME_IDX ranges from 0 to 31

DP_NUM_BLOCK_MAX: This 10-bit field indicates a maximum value of DP_NUM_BLOCKS for this DR A value of this field has the same range as DP_NUM_BLOCKS.

DP_PAYLOAD_TYPE: This 2-bit field indicates a type of payload data carried by a given DP. DP_PAYLOAD_TYPE is signaled according to the following Table 13.

TABLE 13 Value Payload type 00 TS 01 IP 10 GS 11 Reserved

DP_INBAND_MODE: This 2-bit field indicates whether a current DP carries in-band signaling information. An in-band signaling type is signaled according to the following Table 14.

TABLE 14 Value In-band mode 00 In-band signaling is not carried. 01 INBAND-PLS is carried 10 INBAND-ISSY is carried 11 INBAND-PLS and INBAND-ISSY are carried

DP_PROTOCOL_TYPE: This 2-bit field indicates a protocol type of a payload carried by a given DR The protocol type is signaled according to Table 15 below when input payload types are selected.

TABLE 15 If DP_PAY- If DP_PAY- If DP_PAY- LOAD_TYPE LOAD_TYPE LOAD_TYPE Value is TS is IP is GS 00 MPEG2-TS IPv4 (Note) 01 Reserved IPv6 Reserved 10 Reserved Reserved Reserved 11 Reserved Reserved Reserved

DP_CRC_MODE: This 2-bit field indicates whether CRC encoding is used in an input formatting block. A CRC mode is signaled according to the following Table 16.

TABLE 16 Value CRC mode 00 Not used 01 CRC-8 10 CRC-16 11 CRC-32

DNP_MODE: This 2-bit field indicates a null-packet deletion mode used by an associated DP when DP_PAYLOAD_TYPE is set to TS (‘00’). DNP_MODE is signaled according to Table 17 below. If DP_PAYLOAD_TYPE is not TS (‘00’), DNP_MODE is set to a value of ‘00’.

TABLE 17 Value Null-packet deletion mode 00 Not used 01 DNP-NORMAL 10 DNP-OFFSET 11 Reserved

ISSY_MODE: This 2-bit field indicates an ISSY mode used by an associated DP when DP_PAYLOAD_TYPE is set to TS (‘00’). ISSY_MODE is signaled according to Table 18 below. If DP_PAYLOAD_TYPE is not TS (‘00’), ISSY_MODE is set to the value of ‘00’.

TABLE 18 Value ISSY mode 00 Not used 01 ISSY-UP 10 ISSY-BBF 11 Reserved

HC_MODE_TS: This 2-bit field indicates a TS header compression mode used by an associated DP when DP_PAYLOAD_TYPE is set to TS (‘00’). HC_MODE_TS is signaled according to the following Table 19.

TABLE 19 Value Header compression mode 00 HC_MODE_TS 1 01 HC_MODE_TS 2 10 HC_MODE_TS 3 11 HC_MODE_TS 4

HC_MODE_IP: This 2-bit field indicates an IP header compression mode when DP_PAYLOAD_TYPE is set to IP HC_MODE_IP is signaled according to the following Table 20.

TABLE 20 Value Header compression mode 00 No compression 01 HC_MODE_IP 1 10 to 11 Reserved

PID: This 13-bit field indicates the PID number for TS header compression when DP_PAYLOAD_TYPE is set to TS (‘00’) and HC_MODE_TS is set to ‘01’ or ‘10’.

RESERVED: This 8-bit field is reserved for future use.

The following fields appear only if FIC_FLAG is equal to ‘1’.

FIC_VERSION: This 8-bit field indicates the version number of the FIC.

FIC_LENGTH_BYTE: This 13-bit field indicates the length, in bytes, of the FIC.

RESERVED: This 8-bit field is reserved for future use.

The following fields appear only if AUX_FLAG is equal to ‘1’.

NUM_AUX: This 4-bit field indicates the number of auxiliary streams. Zero means no auxiliary stream is used.

AUX_CONFIG_RFU: This 8-bit field is reserved for future use.

AUX_STREAM_TYPE: This 4-bit is reserved for future use for indicating a type of a current auxiliary stream.

AUX_PRIVATE_CONFIG: This 28-bit field is reserved for future use for signaling auxiliary streams.

FIG. 26 illustrates PLS2 data according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 26 illustrates PLS2-DYN data of the PLS2 data. Values of the PLS2-DYN data may change during the duration of one frame group while sizes of fields remain constant.

Details of fields of the PLS2-DYN data are as below.

FRAME_INDEX: This 5-bit field indicates a frame index of a current frame within a superframe. An index of a first frame of the superframe is set to ‘0’.

PLS_CHANGE_COUNTER: This 4-bit field indicates the number of superframes before a configuration changes. A next superframe with changes in the configuration is indicated by a value signaled within this field. If this field is set to a value of ‘0000’, it means that no scheduled change is foreseen. For example, a value of ‘1’ indicates that there is a change in the next superframe.

FIC_CHANGE_COUNTER: This 4-bit field indicates the number of superframes before a configuration (i.e., content of the FIC) changes. A next superframe with changes in the configuration is indicated by a value signaled within this field. If this field is set to a value of ‘0000’, it means that no scheduled change is foreseen. For example, a value of ‘0001’ indicates that there is a change in the next superframe.

RESERVED: This 16-bit field is reserved for future use.

The following fields appear in a loop over NUM_DP, which describe parameters associated with a DP carried in a current frame.

DP_ID: This 6-bit field uniquely indicates a DP within a PHY profile.

DP_START: This 15-bit (or 13-bit) field indicates a start position of the first of the DPs using a DPU addressing scheme. The DP_START field has differing length according to the PHY profile and FFT size as shown in the following Table 21.

TABLE 21 DP_START field size PHY profile 64K 16K Base 13 bits 15 bits Handheld — 13 bits Advanced 13 bits 15 bits

DP_NUM_BLOCK: This 10-bit field indicates the number of FEC blocks in a current TI group for a current DP. A value of DP_NUM_BLOCK ranges from 0 to 1023.

RESERVED: This 8-bit field is reserved for future use.

The following fields indicate FIC parameters associated with the EAC.

EAC_FLAG: This 1-bit field indicates the presence of the EAC in a current frame.

This bit is the same value as EAC_FLAG in a preamble.

EAS_WAKE_UP_VERSION_NUM: This 8-bit field indicates a version number of a wake-up indication.

If the EAC_FLAG field is equal to ‘1’, the following 12 bits are allocated to EAC_LENGTH_BYTE.

If the EAC_FLAG field is equal to ‘0’, the following 12 bits are allocated to EAC_COUNTER.

EAC_LENGTH_BYTE: This 12-bit field indicates a length, in bytes, of the EAC.

EAC_COUNTER: This 12-bit field indicates the number of frames before a frame where the EAC arrives.

The following fields appear only if the AUX_FLAG field is equal to ‘1’.

AUX_PRIVATE_DYN: This 48-bit field is reserved for future use for signaling auxiliary streams. A meaning of this field depends on a value of AUX_STREAM_TYPE in a configurable PLS2-STAT.

CRC_32: A 32-bit error detection code, which is applied to the entire PLS2.

FIG. 27 illustrates a logical structure of a frame according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As above mentioned, the PLS, EAC, FIC, DPs, auxiliary streams and dummy cells are mapped to the active carriers of OFDM symbols in a frame. PLS1 and PLS2 are first mapped to one or more FSSs. Thereafter, EAC cells, if any, are mapped to an immediately following PLS field, followed next by FIC cells, if any. The DPs are mapped next after the PLS or after the EAC or the FIC, if any. Type 1 DPs are mapped first and Type 2 DPs are mapped next. Details of types of the DPs will be described later. In some cases, DPs may carry some special data for EAS or service signaling data. The auxiliary streams or streams, if any, follow the DPs, which in turn are followed by dummy cells. When the PLS, EAC, FIC, DPs, auxiliary streams and dummy data cells are mapped all together in the above mentioned order, i.e. the PLS, EAC, FIC, DPs, auxiliary streams and dummy data cells, cell capacity in the frame is exactly filled.

FIG. 28 illustrates PLS mapping according to an embodiment of the present invention.

PLS cells are mapped to active carriers of FSS(s). Depending on the number of cells occupied by PLS, one or more symbols are designated as FSS(s), and the number of FSS(s) N_(FSS) is signaled by NUM_FSS in PLS1. The FSS is a special symbol for carrying PLS cells. Since robustness and latency are critical issues in the PLS, the FSS(s) have higher pilot density, allowing fast synchronization and frequency-only interpolation within the FSS.

PLS cells are mapped to active carriers of the FSS(s) in a top-down manner as shown in the figure. PLS1 cells are mapped first from a first cell of a first FSS in increasing order of cell index. PLS2 cells follow immediately after a last cell of PLS1 and mapping continues downward until a last cell index of the first FSS. If the total number of required PLS cells exceeds the number of active carriers of one FSS, mapping proceeds to a next FSS and continues in exactly the same manner as the first FSS.

After PLS mapping is completed, DPs are carried next. If an EAC, an FIC or both are present in a current frame, the EAC and the FIC are placed between the PLS and “normal” DPs.

Hereinafter, description will be given of encoding an FEC structure according to an embodiment of the present invention. As above mentioned, the data FEC encoder may perform FEC encoding on an input BBF to generate an FECBLOCK procedure using outer coding (BCH), and inner coding (LDPC). The illustrated FEC structure corresponds to the FECBLOCK. In addition, the FECBLOCK and the FEC structure have same value corresponding to a length of an LDPC codeword.

As described above, BCH encoding is applied to each BBF (K_(bch) bits), and then LDPC encoding is applied to BCH-encoded BBF (K_(ldpc) bits=N_(bch) bits).

A value of N_(ldpc) is either 64,800 bits (long FECBLOCK) or 16,200 bits (short FECBLOCK).

Table 22 and Table 23 below show FEC encoding parameters for the long FECBLOCK and the short FECBLOCK, respectively.

TABLE 22 LDPC BCH error correction N_(bch) − rate N_(ldpc) K_(ldpc) K_(bch) capability K_(bch) 5/15 64800 21600 21408 12 192 6/15 25920 25728 7/15 30240 30048 8/15 34560 34368 9/15 38880 38688 10/15  43200 43008 11/15  47520 47328 12/15  51840 51648 13/15  56160 55968

TABLE 23 LDPC BCH error correction N_(bch) − rate N_(ldpc) K_(ldpc) K_(bch) capability K_(bch) 5/15 16200 5400 5232 12 168 6/15 6480 6312 7/15 7560 7392 8/15 8640 8472 9/15 9720 9552 10/15  10800 10632 11/15  11880 11712 12/15  12960 12792 13/15  14040 13872

Detailed operations of BCH encoding and LDPC encoding are as below.

A 12-error correcting BCH code is used for outer encoding of the BBF. A BCH generator polynomial for the short FECBLOCK and the long FECBLOCK are obtained by multiplying all polynomials together.

LDPC code is used to encode an output of outer BCH encoding. To generate a completed B_(ldpc) (FECBLOCK), P_(ldpc) (parity bits) is encoded systematically from each I_(ldpc) (BCH—encoded BBF), and appended to I_(ldpc). The completed B_(ldpc) (FECBLOCK) is expressed by the following Equation.

B _(ldpc) =[I _(ldpc) P _(ldpc) ]=[i ₀ ,i ₁ , . . . ,i _(K) _(ldpc) ₋₁ ,p ₀ ,p ₁ , . . . ,p _(N) _(ldpc) _(−K) _(ldpc) ₋₁]  [Equation 2]

Parameters for the long FECBLOCK and the short FECBLOCK are given in the above Tables 22 and 23, respectively.

A detailed procedure to calculate N_(ldpc)−K_(ldpc) parity bits for the long FECBLOCK, is as follows.

1) Initialize the parity bits

p ₀ =p ₁ =p ₂ = . . . =p _(N) _(ldpc) _(−K) _(ldpc) ₋₁=0  [Equation 3]

2) Accumulate a first information bit −i₀, at a parity bit address specified in a first row of addresses of a parity check matrix. Details of the addresses of the parity check matrix will be described later. For example, for the rate of 13/15,

p ₉₈₃ =p ₉₈₃ ⊕i ₀ p ₂₈₁₅ =p ₂₈₁₅ ⊕i ₀

p ₄₈₃₇ =p ₄₈₃₇ ⊕i ₀ p ₄₉₈₉ =p ₄₉₈₉ ⊕i ₀

p ₆₁₃₈ =p ₆₁₃₈ ⊕i ₀ p ₆₄₅₈ =p ₆₄₅₈ ⊕i ₀

p ₆₉₂₁ =p ₆₉₂₁ ⊕i ₀ p ₆₉₇₄ =p ₆₉₇₄ ⊕i ₀

p ₇₅₇₂ =p ₇₅₇₂ ⊕i ₀ p ₈₂₆₀ =p ₈₂₆₀ ⊕i ₀

p ₈₄₉₆ =p ₈₄₉₆ ⊕i ₀  [Equation 4]

3) For the next 359 information bits, i_(s), s=1, 2, . . . , 359, accumulate i_(s) at parity bit addresses using following Equation.

{x+(s mod 360)×Q _(ldpc)} mod(N _(ldpc) −K _(ldpc))  [Equation 5]

Here, x denotes an address of a parity bit accumulator corresponding to a first bit i₀, and Q_(ldpc) is a code rate dependent constant specified in the addresses of the parity check matrix. Continuing with the example, Q_(ldpc)=24 for the rate of 13/15, so for an information bit i₁, the following operations are performed.

p ₁₀₀₇ =p ₁₀₀₇ ⊕i ₁ p ₂₈₃₉ =p ₂₈₃₉ ⊕i ₁

p ₄₈₆₁ =p ₄₈₆₁ ⊕i ₁ p ₅₀₁₃ =p ₅₀₁₃ ⊕i ₁

p ₆₁₆₂ =p ₆₁₆₂ ⊕i ₁ p ₆₄₈₂ =p ₆₄₈₂ ⊕i ₁

p ₆₉₄₅ =p ₆₉₄₅ ⊕i ₁ p ₆₉₉₈ =p ₆₉₉₈ ⊕i ₁

p ₇₅₉₆ =p ₇₅₉₆ ⊕i ₁ p ₈₂₈₄ =p ₈₂₈₄ ⊕i ₁

p ₈₅₂₀ =p ₈₅₂₀ ⊕i ₁  [Equation 6]

4) For a 361th information bit i₃₆₀, an address of the parity bit accumulator is given in a second row of the addresses of the parity check matrix. In a similar manner, addresses of the parity bit accumulator for the following 359 information bits i_(s), s=361, 362, . . . , 719 are obtained using Equation 6, where x denotes an address of the parity bit accumulator corresponding to the information bit i₃₆₀, i.e., an entry in the second row of the addresses of the parity check matrix.

5) In a similar manner, for every group of 360 new information bits, a new row from the addresses of the parity check matrix is used to find the address of the parity bit accumulator.

After all of the information bits are exhausted, a final parity bit is obtained as below.

6) Sequentially perform the following operations starting with i=1.

p _(i) =p _(i) ⊕p _(i-1) ,i=1,2, . . . ,N _(ldpc) −K _(ldpc)−1  [Equation 7]

Here, final content of p_(i) (i=0, 1, . . . , N_(ldpc)−K_(ldpc)−1) is equal to a parity bit p_(i).

TABLE 24 Code rate Q_(ldpc) 5/15 120 6/15 108 7/15 96 8/15 84 9/15 72 10/15  60 11/15  48 12/15  36 13/15  24

This LDPC encoding procedure for the short FECBLOCK is in accordance with t LDPC encoding procedure for the long FECBLOCK, except that Table 24 is replaced with Table 25, and the addresses of the parity check matrix for the long FECBLOCK are replaced with the addresses of the parity check matrix for the short FECBLOCK.

TABLE 25 Code rate Q_(ldpc) 5/15 30 6/15 27 7/15 24 8/15 21 9/15 18 10/15  15 11/15  12 12/15  9 13/15  6

FIG. 29 illustrates time interleaving according to an embodiment of the present invention.

(a) to (c) show examples of a TI mode.

A time interleaver operates at the DP level. Parameters of time interleaving (TI) may be set differently for each DP.

The following parameters, which appear in part of the PLS2-STAT data, configure the TI.

DP_TI_TYPE (allowed values: 0 or 1): This parameter represents the TI mode. The value o′O′ indicates a mode with multiple TI blocks (more than one TI block) per TI group. In this case, one TI group is directly mapped to one frame (no inter-frame interleaving). The value of ‘1’ indicates a mode with only one TI block per TI group. In this case, the TI block may be spread over more than one frame (inter-frame interleaving).

DP_TI_LENGTH: If DP_TI_TYPE=‘0’, this parameter is the number of TI blocks N_(TI) per TI group. For DP_TI_TYPE=‘1’, this parameter is the number of frames P_(I) spread from one TI group.

DP_NUM_BLOCK_MAX (allowed values: 0 to 1023): This parameter represents the maximum number of XFECBLOCKs per TI group.

DP_FRAME_INTERVAL (allowed values: 1, 2, 4, and 8): This parameter represents the number of the frames I_(JUMP) between two successive frames carrying the same DP of a given PHY profile.

DP_TI_BYPASS (allowed values: 0 or 1): If time interleaving is not used for a DP, this parameter is set to ‘1’. This parameter is set to ‘0’ if time interleaving is used.

Additionally, the parameter DP_NUM_BLOCK from the PLS2-DYN data is used to represent the number of XFECBLOCKs carried by one TI group of the DR

When time interleaving is not used for a DP, the following TI group, time interleaving operation, and TI mode are not considered. However, the delay compensation block for the dynamic configuration information from the scheduler may still be required. In each DP, the XFECBLOCKs received from SSD/MIMO encoding are grouped into TI groups. That is, each TI group is a set of an integer number of XFECBLOCKs and contains a dynamically variable number of XFECBLOCKs. The number of XFECBLOCKs in the TI group of index n is denoted by N_(xBLOCK) _(_) _(Group)(n) and is signaled as DP_NUM_BLOCK in the PLS2-DYN data. Note that N_(xBLOCK) _(_) _(Group)(n) may vary from a minimum value of 0 to a maximum value of N_(xBLOCK) _(_) _(Group) _(_) _(Max)(corresponding to DP_NUM_BLOCK_MAX), the largest value of which is 1023.

Each TI group is either mapped directly to one frame or spread over P_(I) frames. Each TI group is also divided into more than one TI block (N_(TI)), where each TI block corresponds to one usage of a time interleaver memory. The TI blocks within the TI group may contain slightly different numbers of XFECBLOCKs. If the TI group is divided into multiple TI blocks, the TI group is directly mapped to only one frame. There are three options for time interleaving (except an extra option of skipping time interleaving) as shown in the following Table 26.

TABLE 26 Modes Descriptions Option 1 Each TI group contains one TI block and is mapped directly to one frame as shown in (a). This option is signaled in PLS2- STAT by DP_TI_TYPE = ‘0’ and DP_TI_LENGTH = ‘1’(N_(TI) = 1). Option 2 Each TI group contains one TI block and is mapped to more than one frame. (b) shows an example, where one TI group is mapped to two frames, i.e., DP_TI_LENGTH = ‘2’ (P_(I) = 2) and DP_FRAME_INTERVAL (I_(JUMP) = 2). This provides greater time diversity for low data-rate services. This option is signaled in PLS2-STAT by DP_TI_TYPE = ‘1’. Option 3 Each TI group is divided into multiple TI blocks and is mapped directly to one frame as shown in (c). Each TI block may use a full TI memory so as to provide a maximum bit- rate for a DP. This option is signaled in PLS2-STAT by DP_TI_TYPE = ‘0’ and DP_TI_LENGTH = N_(TI), while P_(I) = 1.

Typically, the time interleaver may also function as a buffer for DP data prior to a process of frame building. This is achieved by means of two memory banks for each DP. A first TI block is written to a first bank. A second TI block is written to a second bank while the first bank is being read from and so on.

The TI is a twisted row-column block interleaver. For an s^(th) TI block of an n^(th) TI group, the number of rows N_(r) of a TI memory is equal to the number of cells N_(cells), i.e., N_(r)=N_(cells) while the number of columns N_(c) is equal to the number N_(xBLOCK) _(_) _(TI)(n,s).

FIG. 30 illustrates a basic operation of a twisted row-column block interleaver according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 30(a) shows a write operation in the time interleaver and FIG. 30(b) shows a read operation in the time interleaver. A first XFECBLOCK is written column-wise into a first column of a TI memory, and a second XFECBLOCK is written into a next column, and so on as shown in (a). Then, in an interleaving array, cells are read diagonal-wise. During diagonal-wise reading from a first row (rightwards along a row beginning with a left-most column) to a last row, N_(r) cells are read out as shown in (b). In detail, assuming Z_(n,s,i)(i=0, . . . , N_(r)N_(c)) as a TI memory cell position to be read sequentially, a reading process in such an interleaving array is performed by calculating a row index R_(n,s,i), a column index C_(n,s,i), and an associated twisting parameter T_(n,s,i) as in the following Equation.

$\begin{matrix} {{{GENERATE}\mspace{14mu} \left( {R_{n,s,i},C_{n,s,i}} \right)} = \left\{ {{R_{n,s,i} = {{mod}\left( {i,N_{r}} \right)}},{T_{n,s,i} = {{mod}\left( {{S_{shift} \times R_{n,s,i}},N_{c}} \right)}},{C_{n,s,i} = {{mod}\left( {{T_{n,s,i} + \left\lfloor \frac{i}{N_{r}} \right\rfloor},N_{c}} \right)}}} \right\}} & \left\lbrack {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 8} \right\rbrack \end{matrix}$

Here, S_(shift) is a common shift value for a diagonal-wise reading process regardless of N_(xBLOCK) _(_) _(TI)(n,s), and the shift value is determined by N_(xBLOCK) _(_) _(TI) _(_) _(MAX) given in PLS2-STAT as in the following Equation.

                                     [Equation  9] ${for}\mspace{11mu} \left\{ {\begin{matrix} {{N_{{xBLOCK\_ TI}{\_ MAX}}^{\prime} = {N_{{xBLOCK\_ TI}{\_ MAX}} + 1}},} & {{{if}\mspace{14mu} N_{{xBLOCK\_ TI}{\_ MAX}}{mod}\; 2} = 0} \\ {{N_{{xBLOCK\_ TI}{\_ MAX}}^{\prime} = N_{{xBLOCK\_ TI}{\_ MAX}}},} & {{{if}\mspace{14mu} N_{{xBLOCK\_ TI}{\_ MAX}}{mod}\; 2} = 1} \end{matrix},\mspace{20mu} {S_{shift} = \frac{N_{{xBLOCK\_ TI}{\_ MAX}}^{\prime} - 1}{2}}} \right.$

As a result, cell positions to be read are calculated by coordinates Z_(n,s,i)=N_(r)C_(n,s,i)+R_(n,s,i).

FIG. 31 illustrates an operation of a twisted row-column block interleaver according to another embodiment of the present invention.

More specifically, FIG. 31 illustrates an interleaving array in a TI memory for each TI group, including virtual XFECBLOCKs when N_(xBLOCK) _(_) _(TI) (0,0)=3, N_(xBLOCK) _(_) _(TI) (1,0)=6, and N_(xBLOCK) _(_) _(TI) (2,0)=5.

A variable number N_(xBLOCK) _(_) _(TI)(n,s)=N_(r) may be less than or equal to N′_(xBLOCK) _(_) _(MAX). Thus, in order to achieve single-memory deinterleaving at a receiver side regardless of N_(xBLOCK) _(_) _(TI)(n,s), the interleaving array for use in the twisted row-column block interleaver is set to a size of N_(r)×N_(c)=N_(cells)×N′_(xBLOCK) _(_) _(TI) _(_) _(MAX) by inserting the virtual XFECBLOCKs into the TI memory and a reading process is accomplished as in the following Equation.

$\begin{matrix} {{{p = 0};}{{{{for}\mspace{14mu} i} = 0};{i < {N_{cells}N_{{xBLOCK\_ TI}{\_ MAX}}^{\prime}}};{i = {i + 1}}}\left\{ {{{GENERATE}\mspace{11mu} \left( {R_{n,s,i},C_{n,s,i}} \right)};{V_{i} = {{{N_{r}C_{n,s,j}} + {R_{n,s,j}\mspace{31mu} {if}\mspace{14mu} V_{i}}} < {N_{cells}{N_{xBLOCK\_ TI}\left( {n,s} \right)}\mspace{31mu} \left\{ \mspace{31mu} {{Z_{n,s,p} = V_{i}};{p = {p + 1}};}\mspace{31mu} \right\}}}}} \right\}} & \left\lbrack {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 10} \right\rbrack \end{matrix}$

The number of TI groups is set to 3. An option of the time interleaver is signaled in the PLS2-STAT data by DP_TI_TYPE=‘0’, DP_FRAME_INTERVAL=‘1’, and DP_TI_LENGTH=‘1’, i.e., NTI=1, IJUMP=1, and PI=1. The number of XFECBLOCKs, each of which has Ncells=30 cells, per TI group is signaled in the PLS2-DYN data by NxBLOCK_TI(0,0)=3, NxBLOCK_TI(1,0)=6, and NxBLOCK_TI(2,0)=5, respectively. A maximum number of XFECBLOCKs is signaled in the PLS2-STAT data by NxBLOCK_Group_MAX, which leads to └N_(xBLOCK) _(_) _(Group) _(_) _(MAX)/N_(TI)┘=N_(xBLOCK) _(_) _(TI) _(_) _(MAX)=6.

The purpose of the Frequency Interleaver, which operates on data corresponding to a single OFDM symbol, is to provide frequency diversity by randomly interleaving data cells received from the frame builder. In order to get maximum interleaving gain in a single frame, a different interleaving-sequence is used for every OFDM symbol pair comprised of two sequential OFDM symbols.

Therefore, the frequency interleaver according to the present embodiment may include an interleaving address generator for generating an interleaving address for applying corresponding data to a symbol pair.

FIG. 32 illustrates an interlaving address generator including a main pseudo-random binary sequence (PRBS) generator and a sub-PRBS generator according to each FFT mode according to an embodiment of the present invention.

(a) shows the block diagrams of the interleaving-address generator for 8K FFT mode, (b) shows the block diagrams of the interleaving-address generator for 16K FFT mode and (c) shows the block diagrams of the interleaving-address generator for 32K FFT mode.

The interleaving process for the OFDM symbol pair is described as follows, exploiting a single interleaving-sequence. First, available data cells (the output cells from the Cell Mapper) to be interleaved in one OFDM symbol O_(m,l) is defined as O_(m,l)=[x_(m,l,0), . . . , x_(m,l,p), . . . , x_(m,l,N) _(data) ₋₁] for l=0, . . . , N_(sym)−1, where x_(m,l,p) is the p^(th) cell of the l^(th) OFDM symbol in the m^(th) frame and N_(data) is the number of data cells: N_(data)=C_(FSS) for the frame signaling symbol(s), N_(data)=C_(data) for the normal data, and N_(data)=C_(FES) for the frame edge symbol. In addition, the interleaved data cells are defined as P_(m,l)=[v_(m,l,0), . . . ,v_(m,l,N) _(data) ₋₁] for l=0, . . . , N_(sym)−1.

For the OFDM symbol pair, the interleaved OFDM symbol pair is given by

v_(m,l,H) _(l) _((p))=x_(m,l,p), p=0, . . . , N_(data)−1, for the first OFDM symbol of each pair

v_(m,l,p)=x_(m,i,H) _(l) _((p)), p=0, . . . , N_(data)−1, for the second OFDM symbol of each pair,

where H_(l)(p) is the interleaving address generated by a PRBS generator.

FIG. 33 illustrates a main PRBS used for all FFT modes according to an embodiment of the present invention.

(a) illustrates the main PRBS, and (b) illustrates a parameter Nmax for each FFT mode.

FIG. 34 illustrates a sub-PRBS used for FFT modes and an interleaving address for frequency interleaving according to an embodiment of the present invention.

(a) illustrates a sub-PRBS generator, and (b) illustrates an interleaving address for frequency interleaving. A cyclic shift value according to an embodiment of the present invention may be referred to as a symbol offset.

FIG. 35 illustrates a write operation of a time interleaver according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 35 illustrates a write operation for two TI groups.

A left block in the figure illustrates a TI memory address array, and right blocks in the figure illustrate a write operation when two virtual FEC blocks and one virtual FEC block are inserted into heads of two contiguous TI groups, respectively.

Hereinafter, description will be given of a configuration of a time interleaver and a time interleaving method using both a convolutional interleaver (CI) and a block interleaver (BI) or selectively using either the CI or the BI according to a physical layer_pipe (PLP) mode. A PLP according to an embodiment of the present invention is a physical path corresponding to the same concept as that of the above-described DP, and a name of the PLP may be changed by a designer.

A PLP mode according to an embodiment of the present invention may include a single PLP mode or a multi-PLP mode according to the number of PLPs processed by a broadcast signal transmitter or a broadcast signal transmission apparatus. The single PLP mode corresponds to a case in which one PLP is processed by the broadcast signal transmission apparatus. The single PLP mode may be referred to as a single PLP.

The multi-PLP mode corresponds to a case in which one or more PLPs are processed by the broadcast signal transmission apparatus. The multi-PLP mode may be referred to as multiple PLPs.

In the present invention, time interleaving in which different time interleaving schemes are applied according to PLP modes may be referred to as hybrid time interleaving. Hybrid time interleaving according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied for each PLP (or at each PLP level) in the multi-PLP mode.

FIG. 36 illustrates an interleaving type applied according to the number of PLPs in a table.

In a time interleaving according to an embodiment of the present invention, an interleaving type may be determined based on a value of PLP_NUM. PLP_NUM is a signaling field indicating a PLP mode. When PLP_NUM has a value of 1, the PLP mode corresponds to a single PLP. The single PLP according to the present embodiment may be applied only to a CI.

When PLP_NUM has a value greater than 1, the PLP mode corresponds to multiple PLPs. The multiple PLPs according to the present embodiment may be applied to the CI and a BI. In this case, the CI may perform inter-frame interleaving, and the BI may perform intra-frame interleaving.

FIG. 37 is a block diagram including a first example of a structure of a hybrid time interleaver described above.

The hybrid time interleaver according to the first example may include a BI and a CI. The time interleaver of the present invention may be positioned between a BICM chain block and a frame builder.

The BICM chain block illustrated in FIGS. 37 and 38 may include the blocks in the processing block 5000 of the BICM block illustrated in FIG. 19 except for the time interleaver 5050. The frame builder illustrated in FIGS. 37 and 38 may perform the same function as that of the frame building block 1020 of FIG. 18.

As described in the foregoing, it is possible to determine whether to apply the BI according to the first example of the structure of the hybrid time interleaver depending on values of PLP_NUM. That is, when PLP_NUM=1, the BI is not applied (BI is turned OFF) and only the CI is applied. When PLP_NUM>1, both the BI and the CI may be applied (BI is turned ON). A structure and an operation of the CI applied when PLP_NUM>1 may be the same as or similar to a structure and an operation of the CI applied when PLP_NUM=1.

FIG. 38 is a block diagram including a second example of the structure of the hybrid time interleaver described above.

An operation of each block included in the second example of the structure of the hybrid time interleaver is the same as the above description in FIG. 37. It is possible to determine whether to apply a BI according to the second example of the structure of the hybrid time interleaver depending on values of PLP_NUM. Each block of the hybrid time interleaver according to the second example may perform operations according to embodiments of the present invention. In this instance, an applied structure and operation of a CI may be different between a case of PLP_NUM=1 and a case of PLP_NUM>1.

FIG. 39 is a block diagram including a first example of a structure of a hybrid time deinterleaver.

The hybrid time deinterleaver according to the first example may perform an operation corresponding to a reverse operation of the hybrid time interleaver according to the first example described above. Therefore, the hybrid time deinterleaver according to the first example of FIG. 39 may include a convolutional deinterleaver (CDI) and a block deinterleaver (BDI).

A structure and an operation of the CDI applied when PLP_NUM>1 may be the same as or similar to a structure and an operation of the CDI applied when PLP_NUM=1.

It is possible to determine whether to apply the BDI according to the first example of the structure of the hybrid time deinterleaver depending on values of PLP_NUM. That is, when PLP_NUM=1, the BDI is not applied (BDI is turned OFF) and only the CDI is applied.

The CDI of the hybrid time deinterleaver may perform inter-frame deinterleaving, and the BDEI may perform intra-frame deinterleaving. Details of inter-frame deinterleaving and intra-frame deinterleaving are the same as the above description.

A BICM decoding block illustrated in FIGS. 39 and 40 may perform a reverse operation of the BICM chain block of FIGS. 37 and 38.

FIG. 40 is a block diagram including a second example of the structure of the hybrid time deinterleaver.

The hybrid time deinterleaver according to the second example may perform an operation corresponding to a reverse operation of the hybrid time interleaver according to the second example described above. An operation of each block included in the second example of the structure of the hybrid time deinterleaver may be the same as the above description in FIG. 39.

It is possible to determine whether to apply a BDI according to the second example of the structure of the hybrid time deinterleaver depending on values of PLP_NUM. Each block of the hybrid time deinterleaver according to the second example may perform operations according to embodiments of the present invention. In this instance, an applied structure and operation of a CDI may be different between a case of PLP_NUM=1 and a case of PLP_NUM>1.

FIG. 41 illustrates an application-related broadcast service according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention proposes a signaling scheme and a synchronization scheme in a broadcast service related to an application among the above-described broadcast services. Here, the application-related broadcast service may refer to a broadcast service corresponding to a case in which provision of a basic broadcast service is related to an application. Specifically, examples thereof may include a linear service including application-based enhancements and/or a standalone application-based service. According to a given embodiment, the signaling scheme of the present invention may be applied to another form of service which uses an application.

First, a description will be given of the linear service including application-based enhancements. Here, the linear service may refer to a general broadcast service. An enhancement may refer to an enhancement service or an interactive service which delivers additional information for a general broadcast service. In addition, application-based enhancement may refer to a case in which the above-described additional information is provided and/or controlled based on an application.

For example, a case, in which a player information application provides information about football players (application-based enhancement) when a football game (general broadcast service) is broadcast, may correspond to the linear service including application-based enhancements.

The standalone application-based service will be described. The standalone application-based service may refer to a broadcast service only including an application-based enhancement. In other words, a case in which an application provides a service rather than the application-based enhancement provides additional information to the basic broadcast service may correspond to the standalone application-based service. A broadcast-independent application, etc. may be an example of an application that provides the standalone application-based service.

The application-based enhancement may include several components. The components of the application-based enhancement may include one or more applications, zero or more activation notifications, zero or more additional non-real-time (NRT) content items and/or zero or more on-demand items.

Here, each application may correspond to an NRT content item which can be executed in an application run time environment. Here, actions to be performed by applications may be initiated by notifications delivered through a broadcast network/broadband network, and these notifications may correspond to the above-described activation notifications. These notifications may be referred to as “events”. Here, the additional NRT content items and/or the on-demand items may refer to data to be used by an application.

According to a given embodiment, one of applications included in the application-based enhancement may be set as a primary application. When the primary application is present, the primary application may be executed upon selecting a broadcast service including the application-based enhancement. Applications other than the primary application may be executed by signaling through the broadcast network/broadband network. Alternatively, applications other than the primary application may be executed by other applications which have been executed. In this case, the applications other than the primary application may be executed by createApplication( ) of JavaScript.

As described in the foregoing, the present invention proposes a signaling scheme for various types of application-based enhancements. In addition, the present invention proposes a scheme of delivering an activation notification in synchronization with a time base. Actions of an application may be synchronized by the synchronized activation notification.

Here, the application may refer to a set of documents (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc.) included in an enhancement/interactive service.

Here, a content item may refer to a set of one or more files intended to be treated as one unit for presentation by a service provider.

Here, an event may refer to a timed notification that indicates an action to be performed in a DASH client or application.

Here, an event stream may refer to a stream of the above-described events.

Here, the NRT content item may refer to a content item delivered ahead of time for another use in a future presentation or application.

Here, an on-demand content item may refer to a content item downloaded and presented at a point in time requested by a user.

FIG. 42 illustrates a part of an ApplicationList element according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 43 illustrates another part of the ApplicationList element according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Even though the two figures originally corresponded to one figure, the one figure is divided into two figures due to space constraints.

As described in the foregoing, the broadcast service may include zero or more application-based enhancements. For example, the linear service may include an application-based enhancement having one application which is executed in the background to manage insertion of a targeted advertisement. In addition, the linear service may further include an application-based enhancement having a set of applications which provide an interactive viewing experience related to an audio/video program.

Here, each of the application-based enhancements may be separately signaled. Therefore, manufacturers who manufacture various applications may not cooperate with each other in signaling thereof

A set of applications included in one application-based enhancement may be signaled by an application signaling table (AST). The AST is one of XML documents, and may include the ApplicationList element as a root element. One AST may include signaling information of applications included in one application-based enhancement. According to a given embodiment, one AST may be extended to signal a plurality of application-based enhancements.

Service signaling information of one service may include an AST for each application-based enhancement included in the service. In other words, when one service includes a plurality of application-based enhancements, service signaling information of the service may include a plurality of ASTs.

An example of the AST illustrated in the figure will be described. According to a given embodiment, each element/attribute of the AST may be added/omitted/changed.

The AST may include the ApplicationList element as a root element. The ApplicationList element may include a list of Application elements. That is, the ApplicationList element may include at least one or more Application elements.

Each of the Application elements may include an appName element, an applicationDescriptor element, an applicationSpecificDescriptor element, an applicationUsageDescriptor element, an applicationBoundary element, an applicationTransport element, an applicationLocation element, an atsc:Capabilities element, an atsc:liveEventSource element, an atsc:ContentItems element, an @applicationIdentifier attribute, an @atsc:serviceId attribute and/or an @atsc:protocolVersion attribute.

The appName element may indicate a name of an application which is indicated by the Application element. This element may be omitted. The application name may be expressed in various languages. The appName element may further include an @lang attribute. The @lang attribute may indicate a language of the application name.

The applicationDescriptor element may include information of the corresponding application. The applicationDescriptor element may include information which can be commonly included in all applications. The applicationDescriptor element may include an icon element, an @type attribute, an @controlCode attribute, an @visibility attribute, an @serviceBound attribute, an @priority attribute, an @version attribute, an @mhpVersion attribute, an @storageCapabilities attribute and/or an @trickModeTolerance attribute.

The icon element may indicate an icon which can be used to represent the corresponding application. This element may be omitted. The icon element may include an @mimeType attribute that indicates a MIME type of an application image (icon) and/or an @width/@height/@depth attribute that indicates a width/height/depth of the application image using pixels. The icon element may further include an @url attribute having HTTP URL information for downloading the application image.

The @type attribute may indicate a type of the corresponding application. For example, this attribute may indicate that the corresponding application is an application according to ATSC or DVB.

The @controlCode attribute may include information for controlling a state of the corresponding application. For example, this attribute may have information about autolaunch, kill, etc. The state of the corresponding application may be controlled using the information.

The @visibility attribute may indicate whether the corresponding application is visible to a user and/or another application. Here, in a broad sense, whether the corresponding application is visible to the user and/or the other application may indicate whether the corresponding application appears in a user interface. This attribute may indicate whether the corresponding application is audible or sensible in addition to whether the corresponding application is visible. According to a given embodiment, whether the corresponding application is audible to the user, etc. through a speaker may be indicated by separately setting an @audibility attribute. This attribute may be omitted.

The @serviceBound attribute may indicate whether the corresponding application is service-bounded. The corresponding application may be service-bounded when this attribute is set to true, and may not be service-bounded when this attribute is set to false. This attribute may have the true value as a default value. This attribute may be omitted. When this attribute is omitted, it may mean that the corresponding application is service-bounded.

The @priority attribute may indicate a relative priority of the corresponding application when compared to other applications. The @version attribute may indicate a version of the corresponding application. The @mhpVersion attribute may indicate a platform or a version necessary for the corresponding application. This attribute may be omitted.

The @storageCapabilities attribute may indicate the amount of storage necessary to cache the corresponding application. This attribute may be omitted. According to a given embodiment, this attribute may be used to indicate whether the corresponding application can be cached.

The @trickModeTolerance attribute may indicate whether the corresponding application is compatible with a certain trick mode. Compatibility may refer to whether the corresponding application can tolerate the certain trick mode when the certain trick mode is executed. Examples of the trick mode may include pause, FF, slow mode, rewind, etc. This attribute may be omitted. In a broadcast service having an application enhancement, when the user performs a trick play for the broadcast service, signaling may be performed such that a basic program subjected to the trick play can be normally enhanced.

The applicationSpecificDescriptor element may have necessary information only for a certain type of application unlike the above-described applicationDescriptor element. That is, information of this element may be subject to an application type. This element may be unnecessary according to application type, and thus this element may be omitted.

The applicationUsageDescriptor element may indicate a function of the corresponding application. For example, this element may indicate that the corresponding application can be used for teletext. This element may be unnecessary according to application type. This element may be omitted.

The applicationBoundary element may indicate URL information that defines extension of an application boundary of the corresponding application. This element may be omitted.

The applicationTransport element may indicate a protocol used to deliver the corresponding application. For example, this element may indicate that the corresponding application is delivered through ROUTE, MMT or HTTP. According to a given embodiment, this element may indicate a protocol used when the AST is delivered. According to the above-described method of delivering service data of the present invention, permissible values of this element may correspond to ROUTE, MMT, HTTP, etc.

The applicationLocation element may indicate a URL that provides a location at which the corresponding application can to be acquired. According to a given embodiment, this element may indicate a URL at which the corresponding application can to be acquired.

The atsc:Capabilities element may indicate capability information for meaningfully processing the corresponding application/application-based enhancement. Here, capability for meaningful processing may refer to capability of a receiving side capable of meaningfully performing rendering/decoding/reproduction, etc. According to a given embodiment, the capability information may be indicated by a preset capability code.

The atsc:liveEventSource element may provide information for receiving the above-described event in a live situation. For example, in a live broadcast program, an event needs to be changed in real time and delivered in order to provide an enhancement according to content of the broadcast program which changes in real time. Unlike pre-produced content, the above-described operation may be needed in the live situation. This element may provide information such as a URL, etc. for receiving the event in real time in this situation. This element may include an @url attribute, an @shortPollingPeriod attribute and/or an @targetDevice attribute.

The @url attribute may indicate a URL for receiving the event in the live situation. The @shortPollingPeriod attribute may indicate a polling period when the event is acquired in short polling of a broadband network. The @targetDevice attribute may indicate a device targeted by the live event. For example, a primary device (PD) or a companion device (CD) may correspond to the target device. The @shortPollingPeriod attribute and/or the @targetDevice attribute may be omitted.

The atsc:ContentItems element may include information about each content item to be used by the corresponding application. The number of ContentItems elements may correspond to the number of respective content items. The atsc:ContentItems element may further include a location element, an @ContentLinkage attribute, an @updatesAvailable attribute, an @TFAvailable attribute, an @contentSecurityCondition attribute, an @availableInBroadcast attribute, an @availableOnlnet attribute, an @playbackLengthInSeconds attribute, an @playbackDelay attribute, an @expiration attribute, an @size attribute, an @name attribute and/or a timeSlotInfo element.

The location element may indicate information about a location at which the content item can be acquired. This information may have a form of URL according to a given embodiment. The location element may be omitted, or a plurality of location elements may be present.

The @ContentLinkage attribute may indicate an application in which the content item is to be used. Signaling by a certain application may be performed using a value of this attribute and information about events to be described below (EventStream element, emsg box, etc.). For example, this attribute may provide an application identifier for the certain application or indicate a certain LCT session in which application data thereof is delivered.

The @updatesAvailable attribute may indicate whether the content item can be updated. This attribute may have a value of true or false. The @TFAvailable attribute may indicate whether a text fragment is present on a signaling channel for the content item.

The @contentSecurityCondition attribute may indicate a security state of the content item. The @availableInBroadcast attribute may indicate whether the content item can be acquired through a broadcast network. The @availableOnlnet attribute may indicate whether the content item can be acquired through an Internet protocol network.

The @playbackLengthInSeconds attribute may indicate a length in seconds of the content item when the content item is reproduced. This attribute may be omitted. The @playbackDelay attribute may indicate a reproduction delay of the content item. This attribute may be omitted. The @expiration attribute may indicate an expiration period of the content item. This attribute may be omitted. The @size attribute may indicate a size of the content item. This attribute may be omitted. The @name attribute may indicate a name of the content item. This attribute may be omitted.

The timeSlotInfo element may include time slot-related information of the content item. The timeSlotInfo element may further include an @time_slot_start attribute, an @time_slot_length attribute, an @acquisition_time attribute, an @repeat_period attribute and/or an @slot_count attribute.

The @time_slot_start attribute may indicate a start time of a time slot. This time may be expressed in GPS seconds from 00:00:00 UTC of Jan. 6, 1980. When this field has a value of 0, this field may indicate that the time slot starts from an uncertain past.

The @time_slot_length attribute may indicate a length in minutes of the time slot.

The @acquisition_time attribute may indicate a minimum time interval length in which transmission of at least one content item is ensured. This time interval may be expressed in minutes. Here, this time interval is presumed to start from an arbitrary time in the time slot and may include an end of the time slot. When one large content item is repeatedly transmitted during the time slot, this attribute may correspond to a time taken when one instance of the content item is transmitted. When a plurality of small content items is transmitted in a carousel, this attribute may correspond to a cycle time of the carousel.

The @repeat_period attribute may indicate a repetition interval in minutes of the time slot.

The @slot_count attribute may indicate the number of times at which the time slot occurs. The number of times may be indicated from a time slot which starts from a time indicated by the @time_slot_start attribute. When this attribute has a value of 0, repetition may be presumed to indefinitely continue.

The Application element may directly include the @ContentLinkage attribute and/or the timeSlotInfo element. That is, the @ContentLinkage attribute and/or the timeSlotInfo element may be included in both the Application element and the atsc:ContentItems element.

Among the attributes of the Application element, the @applicationIdentifier attribute may indicate an identifier of the application. This value may be a globally unique value.

The @atsc:serviced attribute may indicate a service identifier of a service related to the corresponding application.

The @atsc:protocolVersion attribute may indicate a protocol version of the corresponding application. According to a given embodiment, the corresponding field may be divided into two fields indicating a major protocol version and a minor protocol version. Alternatively, this field may simultaneously provide the major/minor protocol versions.

The ApplicationList element may include an @ASTVersionNumber attribute, an @timeSpanStart attribute and/or an @timeSpanLength attribute in addition to the plurality of Application elements.

The @ASTVersionNumber attribute may indicate a version number of the whole corresponding AST. According to a given embodiment, the corresponding field may be divided into two fields indicating a major protocol version and a minor protocol version. Alternatively, this field may simultaneously provide the major/minor protocol versions.

The @timeSpanStart attribute may indicate a start of a time interval covered by a corresponding AST instance. The AST may be divided into a plurality of instances and transmitted. Each of the AST instances may include signaling information for each time interval.

The @timeSpanLength attribute may indicate a length of a time interval covered by a corresponding AST instance. It is possible to calculate the time interval covered by the corresponding AST instance together with a value of the @timeSpanStart attribute.

The respective fields of the AST according to the above-described embodiments may be omitted or changed. In addition, according to a given embodiment, additional fields may be added to the AST. The respective fields of the AST may be replaced by fields having the same/similar meanings.

The above-described AST may be transmitted through a broadcast network or a broadband network.

When the AST is transmitted through the broadcast network, an AST for an application enhancement may be delivered through a service signaling channel of a broadcast service to which the application enhancement is related. Here, the service signaling channel of the service may refer to a path through which the above-described SLS is delivered. For example, in ROUTE, an LCT transmission session specified by tsi=0 may deliver the AST as a dedicated signaling channel. In MMT, an MMTP packet flow specified by packet_id=00 may deliver the AST as a dedicated signaling channel.

When the AST is delivered through the broadband network, the AST may be acquired through a query. This query may be generated using base URL information in the SLT described above. The base URL may correspond to URL information for acquiring the AST. Here, the SLT may correspond to an SLT including bootstrap information for a broadcast service related to the AST. In a scenario in which a watermark is used, the base URL may be acquired through the watermark or through an auto content recognition (ACR) process using the watermark.

FIG. 44 illustrates an event message table (EMT) according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As described in the foregoing, actions to be performed by applications may be initiated by notifications delivered through the broadcast network/broadband network. These notifications may be referred to as “events”. According to context, operations, actions, or operated states of the applications initiated by the notifications may be referred to as “events”. In addition, executable actions of the applications may be referred to as “events”.

These events may be delivered through the broadcast network or the broadband network. In this case, each event or an action performed by the event may need to be synchronized with a basic broadcast service/broadcast program. The present invention proposes a delivery scheme and a synchronization scheme of the event.

A description will be given of a case in which the event is delivered through the broadcast network.

When the event is delivered through the broadcast network, the event may be delivered as a DASH event. In this instance, the event may be delivered in the form of an EventStream element or an emsg box. A case in which the event is delivered through the EventStream element may correspond to a case in which the event is delivered as a form of an EventStream element which appears in a Period element of an MPD. A case in which the event is delivered in the form of the emsg box may correspond to a case in which the event is delivered through an emsg box which appears in representation segments.

The two event delivery mechanisms may be interchangeable. For example, one event stream may include several events delivered through the EventStream element and/or other events delivered through the emsg box.

The events delivered through the EventStream element may correspond to events to be delivered to the receiving side during a time interval corresponding to a certain period. In other words, the MPD may provide signaling information at time intervals of a service referred to as a period as service signaling information of a certain service. The signaling information for the period is included in an MPD Period element, and this Period element may include the EventStream element. The EventStream element may provide signaling (event) necessary for operations of applications during the period of the service.

The EventStream element may correspond to a list of Event elements. Each EventStream element may have a schemeIdUri attribute and/or a value attribute. These two attributes may indicate types of events in an EventStream. According to a given embodiment, these two attributes may identify events. Here, predefined values may be used as values of the schemeIdUri attribute and/or the value attribute. Alternatively, a service provide may additionally define and use values of the schemeIdUri attribute and/or the value attribute. An “owner” of the schemeIdUri attribute needs to uniquely define the schemeIdUri attribute, and needs to define semantics of the event and the value attribute. Value information may be subject to an application and used to identify a certain event stream in one service.

The EventStream element may further include a timescale attribute. This attribute may indicate a reference time scale in duration and an event presentation time.

Each Event sub-element of the EventStream element may include a presentationTime attribute, a duration attribute, and/or an id attribute. The presentationTime attribute may indicate a start time of each event, the duration attribute may indicate a duration of each event, and the id attribute may indicate an identifier of each event. In this context, the event may refer to an action of an application initiated by a notification or a phenomenon caused by the action (pop-up window, etc.).

The Event sub-element may not have data for the corresponding event. However, according to a given embodiment, an Event element may have an additional data element or attribute. This data element/attribute may provide data necessary to execute an action initiated by the event.

According to a given embodiment, a plurality of EventStream elements having different types may be present in one period.

When the event is delivered in the form of the emsg box, the event may be delivered through the emsg box which appears in the Representation segments as described in the foregoing. In this instance, an InbandEventStream element of the Representation of the MPD may signal whether an event is present in the emsg box in the segments.

An InbandEvent element may include schemeIdUri and/or value. These two fields may indicate a type of an event in the emsg box. According to a given embodiment, these two fields may be used to identify the event.

The InbandEvent element may further include a timescale field. This field may indicate a reference time scale related to an event.

In addition, the InbandEvent element may further include presentation_time_delta information, event_duration information and/or id information. The presentation_time_delta information may indicate a start time of the corresponding event. Here, the start time may be expressed by a relative value with respect to a start time of the Representation. The event_duration information may indicate a duration of the corresponding event. The id information may identify an instance of the corresponding event.

The InbandEvent element may further optionally include message_data information. The message_data information may provide data necessary to execute an action which is initiated by the corresponding event.

A description will be given of a case in which the event is delivered through the broadband network.

Batch delivery using a batch through MPD and incremental delivery using the emsg box have been described with regard to delivery of the event through the broadcast network. Similarly, batch delivery and incremental delivery may be proposed with regard to delivery of the event through the broadband network.

When the event is delivered using batch delivery through the broadband network, events may be delivered through an event stream table (EST). This EST may be referred to as an EMT according to a given embodiment. As an XML document, the EST may include an EventStreamTable element as a root element.

The EventStreamTable element may correspond to a list of EventStream elements. Each of the EventStream elements may be identical to the EventStream element in delivery of the event through the broadcast network described above. The list of EventStream elements may include all event streams for one service.

The illustrated EMT is an EMT (EST) according to another embodiment of the present invention. The EMT may include an @mpdId attribute, an @periodId attribute, and an EventStream element.

The @mpdId attribute may correspond to an identifier of an MPD related to events described by the EMT. The MPD may be used as a time reference of the corresponding events.

The @periodId attribute may correspond to an identifier of a period of the MPD related to the events of the EMT. The period may be used as a time reference of the corresponding events.

Respective fields in the EventStream element are as described above. Here, each Event element may have a value suitable for a type thereof according to a value of @schemeIdURi and/or @value. An @presentationTime attribute indicates a start time of an event as a relative value with respect to a start time of a period, and this period may correspond to a period identified by the @mpdId and @periodId attributes.

The EST may be acquired through a query as described above. The query may be generated by base URL information in the SLT. A description thereof has been given above.

When events are delivered using incremental delivery through the broadband network, the events may be separately delivered through a live event server. Polling may be periodically performed using the live event server. When an event to be transmitted in the corresponding period is present, the event server may deliver the event to a receiver. Information such as a URL, a polling period, etc. of the live event server may have been delivered to the receiver by the above described AST or EST, or another signaling object.

The event delivered in this case may have the same format as a format of the emsg box in the above-described delivery of the event using the emsg box. According to a given embodiment, signaling information corresponding to the above-described InbandEvent element may be delivered together with the live event.

SchemeIdUri information and value information may correspond to targetURl and eventName arguments in an API for addition and deletion of a stream event listener for an event stream. The events according to the respective embodiments described above may further include an optional data attribute. The data attribute may provide data used to execute an action which is initiated by the corresponding event. The data attribute may correspond to a data attribute of a StreamEvent interface returned to a registered listener when the event occurs.

In delivery of an NRT content item, an NRT delivery method of ATSC may be used. However, in this case, an AST is used instead of an NRT-IT, and a content item to be delivered by the AST may be identified. In addition, an application may initiate broadband delivery of the NRT content item even when the NRT content item is not listed in the AST.

An on-demand content item may be delivered through the broadband network. Broadband delivery of the on-demand content item may be initiated by an application.

Synchronization of an application will be described.

The application may need to be synchronized in several aspects. For example, actions of the application may need to be synchronized with a scheduled audio/video service. In addition, the application may need to be initiated and suspended according to the scheduled audio/video service. The application and the actions of the application may need to be synchronized with reproduction of recorded content, NRT content, etc. in addition to a basic broadcast service. In addition, the application may need to be initiated or suspended according to recorded content, NRT content, etc. to effectively enhance user experience.

In addition, an application in a CD may need to be synchronized with audio/video content reproduced in a PD such that an application enhancement provided by the CD can be effectively synchronized and provided.

User experience will be described.

According to a given embodiment, the user may control operations of the application for an efficient application enhancement since the enhancement may hinder viewing when the operations cannot be controlled. As an embodiment, permission of the user may be used. The user may collectively permit all services or some particular services. Alternatively, the user may permit applications of the respective services or the services case by case.

When the user gives permission case by case, an application notification may need to be displayed first before the application is activated. Through this notification, the application may obtain to be activated permission from the user. The application may be in a blocked state until obtaining permission.

A format and a location of the notification for this permission may be determined by a device manufacturer. An actual user interface for permission may be determined by the device manufacturer. Referring to these issues, a certain format, etc. may be proposed by a certain entity from an industrial viewpoint.

A notification for permission may time-out or be dismissed by the user. In this way, even when the user does not immediately determine whether to permit activation of the application, the user may be prevented from being hindered from viewing continuously by this notification. Even when the notification is on a time-out or dismissed and thus is invisible, the user may activate or block the application through setting, etc. The user may terminate the activated application. In this case, even when a signal for activating the application is received, the application may be continuously blocked.

A description will be given of synchronization of an action and an action parameter.

Download of the application, activation of the application, termination of the application, and/or a certain action of the application may need to be synchronized with a basic broadcast program, etc.

With regard to actions of the application, action parameters may be needed to perform the actions. The actions may be performed using information of the parameters. Examples of the action parameters may include an application identifier parameter for identifying an application related to an action, a time parameter that indicates a time at which an action is to be performed, and/or a synchronization level parameter related to a synchronization level of an action. Here, the time parameter may indicate a start time of an action as a relative value with respect to a time base or a media time line. Here, the synchronization level parameter may indicate a synchronization level such as program level sync, sync less than two seconds, lip sync, frame sync, etc.

With regard to an action related to download of the application, this action may include an action parameter related to a target device and/or an action parameter related to a jitter interval. The action parameter related to the target device may include information as to whether the downloaded application is for a PC or a CD. The action parameter related to the jitter interval may include information related to the jitter interval for fetching of the application.

With regard to an action related to start of the application, this action may include an action parameter related to a target device and/or an action parameter related to a jitter interval. The action parameter related to the target device may include information as to whether the started application is for a PC or a CD.

As described in the foregoing, examples of the action parameters may include an action parameter that provides data necessary to execute the application. This action parameter may include data necessary to perform the corresponding action.

FIG. 45 illustrates a method of providing the broadcast service by the transmitting side according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The method of providing the broadcast service by the transmitting side according to the present embodiment may include generating service data and service signaling information, generating a service list table, processing a streaming component, an enhancement component, the service signaling information, and/or the service list table in transmission packets, generating link layer packets, and/or physically processing the link layer packets to generate and transmit a broadcast signal.

First, a first mode of a transmitting side may generate the service data of the broadcast service and the service signaling information for signaling the service data. Here, the service data may include a streaming component having data related to real-time content of the broadcast service and/or an enhancement component having data related to the application-based enhancement of real-time content.

The streaming component may have data necessary to reproduce real-time content. For example, the streaming component may correspond to a video component, an audio component, or a closed captioning component. As described in the foregoing, the application-based enhancement may provide an interactive viewing experience for the broadcast service. As described in the foregoing, the application-based enhancement may provide an interactive service through an application for a broadcast program, etc. The enhancement component may include data for providing the application-based enhancement. The enhancement component may correspond to the application, and may correspond to a data/content item for using the application. Here, the enhancement component may correspond to an NRT component and be delivered through the ROUTE protocol, etc.

In addition, the service may further include a plurality of service components. Here, the service signaling information may refer to the above-described SLS.

A second module of the transmitting side may generate the service list table. The service list table may correspond to the above-described SLT. The SLT may include bootstrap information that indicates a transmission session in which the SLS is delivered. Here, the transmission session may correspond to a ROUTE session or an MMTP session. The bootstrap information may refer to an IP address, a UDP port number, etc. of the ROUTE session or the MMTP session. The first module and the second module may correspond to modules serving as service providers which manage generation of a service.

A third module of the transmitting side may process a streaming component, an enhancement component, the service signaling information, and/or the service list table in transmission packets. This step may correspond to a step for UDP/IP-processing the service component data, the SLS, and the SLT and encapsulating the service component data, the SLS, and the SLT in an IP packet in order to deliver the service data through a broadcast network. Here, a transmission packet may correspond to an IP packet. Here, it is presumed that an FIC is not used and the SLT is encapsulated in the IP packet and delivered through a PLP. The third module may correspond to a hardware module that manages a UDP/IP layer.

A fourth module of the transmitting side may perform link layer processing on transmission packets to output at least one link layer packet. Link layer processing has been described above. Here, the fourth module may correspond to a module that performs an operation corresponding to a link layer. The fourth module may perform header compression/overhead reduction or packet encapsulation.

A fifth module of the transmitting side may physically process the at least one link layer packet. The fifth module may correspond to a module that manages operation of a physical layer. The fifth module may generate BB packets from the link layer packet and perform encoding, bit interleaving, constellation mapping, etc. on the BB packets. Thereafter, it is possible to perform time interleaving, frame building, frequency interleaving, etc., and then a modulation process according to an OFDM scheme. In addition, the fifth module may transmit a broadcast signal including physically processed data. Here, the fourth module may be included in the fifth module. The fourth and fifth modules may be replaced by one integrated module. The fifth module may include a plurality of internal blocks. The fourth module may be included in one of the blocks of the fifth module.

In the method of providing the broadcast service by the transmitting side according to the present embodiment, the service signaling information may include an AST that signals applications which provide the application-based enhancement. The AST has been described above. As described in the foregoing, the AST may be delivered together with the SLS for the broadcast service. In other words, the AST may be delivered through the ROUTE/LCT session in which the SLS is delivered. According to a given embodiment, the AST may be delivered through a broadband network, etc. In this case, the AST may be requested using URL information of the SLT.

In addition, in the present embodiment, the enhancement component may correspond to an NRT component of the broadcast service. As described in the foregoing, the enhancement component may include a related application or content item with respect to an application enhancement for the broadcast service.

In a method of providing the broadcast service by the transmitting side according to another embodiment of the present invention, the service signaling information may include a user service bundle description (USBD), a service-based transport session instance description (S-TSID), and/or a media presentation description (MPD). As described in the foregoing, the USBD may include URI information for referencing the S-TSID and/or URI information for referencing the MPD. The S-TSID may include transmission session description information related to a transmission session in which a streaming component and an enhancement component of the broadcast service are delivered. The S-TSID may provide information about an LCT session in which service components of a certain service are delivered. Examples of this information may include tsi information and/or IP/UDP information of a ROUTE session. The MPD may include reproduction-related information of the streaming component of the broadcast service. The MPD may provide description information for reproducing DASH representation, etc. included in video and audio components. In other words, the MPD may provide segment URL information of service components and context information of media segments.

In a method of providing the broadcast service by the transmitting side according to another embodiment of the present invention, the AST may include application elements including information about applications which provide an application-based enhancement. The AST may include application elements as in the above-described embodiment. These applications may be used to provide the application enhancement. The respective application enhancement may include content item elements including information about content items used by the applications. Content item elements may be present as child elements of the application elements described above. The respective content item elements may describe content items used by the application. At least one content item element may describe a content item included in an enhancement component. The above-described enhancement component may have a certain content item used by a certain application. This content item may be described by the AST. In this way, the application-based enhancement may be provided using the content items acquired through the AST.

In a method of providing the broadcast service by the transmitting side according to another embodiment of the present invention, the S-TSID may include transmission session identifier information that indicates a transmission session in which an enhancement component is delivered. The S-TSID may indicate a transmission session in which an enhancement component corresponding to an NRT component is delivered. Tsi information may be provided to indicate the transmission session. Depending on cases, IP/UDP information for identifying a ROUTE session may be provided. A reception system may acquire enhancement components for providing an application-based enhancement through the S-TSID. At least one content item element of the AST may further include content link information, and the content link information may be used to indicate an application which uses a content item included in the enhancement component. As described in the foregoing, an @ContentLinkage attribute may be included in a lower element of an application element and/or a content item element of the AST. This attribute may be used to indicate an application in which the content item delivered in the enhancement component is used. This attribute may be used to connect the AST to the content item. Alternatively, this attribute may be used to connect the AST to the application. In this way, the content item acquired using the S-TSID may be used to provide the application-based enhancement in connection with the application.

In a method of providing the broadcast service by the transmitting side according to another embodiment of the present invention, the MPD may further include a period element that describes reproduction-related information of a certain interval of real-time content. In a presentation of media content, a period is a concept corresponding to a part obtained by dividing the presentation in terms of time, and the period element may provide media reproduction description information corresponding to the part. As described in the forgoing, the period element may have an event stream element. This event stream element may include a plurality of event elements. These event elements may include information about events that signal actions to be performed by an application. In addition, the respective event elements may include presentation time information and event identifiers of the events. The event identifiers may identify event instances. The presentation time information may indicate start times of the events, and the start times may be indicated based on a time of the period. For example, a start time of the period may be set to an offset, and a start time of an action may be indicated using a difference from the start time of the period. This action may be referred to as an event according to context.

In a method of providing the broadcast service by the transmitting side according to another embodiment of the present invention, the service signaling information may further include an EMT, and the EMT may include event stream elements. Each of the event stream elements may include event elements. These event elements may include information about events that signal actions to be performed by an application. Similarly, each of the event elements may include presentation time information and an event identifier of the event.

In a method of providing the broadcast service by the transmitting side according to another embodiment of the present invention, the EMT may further include a period identifier and an MPD identifier of an MPD. Here, the MPD identifier may identify an MPD related to the EMT. In other words, the MPD identifier may identify an MPD related to the corresponding event. The period identifier may identify a period element that describes reproduction-related information of a certain interval of real-time content. This period element may identify a period related to the corresponding event. Presentation time information may indicate a start time of an action based on an interval in a media presentation described by the period element with respect to the period element identified by the MPD identifier and the period identifier. This action may be referred to as an event according to context.

A description will be given of a method of providing a broadcast service by a receiving side according to an embodiment of the present invention. This method is not illustrated in any figure.

The method of providing the broadcast service by the receiving side according to the present embodiment may include receiving a broadcast signal by a first module of the receiving side, physically processing the broadcast signal to output link layer packets by a second module of the receiving side, link-processing the link layer packets to output transmission packets by a third module of the receiving side, acquiring an SLT and accessing an SLS by a fourth module of the receiving side, and/or acquiring a streaming component and/or an enhancement component delivered through a broadcast network using the SLS by a fifth module of the receiving side. Here, physical processing, link processing, etc. may correspond to reverse operations of those of the transmitting side. Here, service data may include a streaming component which includes data about real-time content of the broadcast service and/or enhancement data which includes data about application-based enhancement of real-time content. Service signaling information may include an AST which signals applications providing the application-based enhancement.

Methods of providing the broadcast service by the receiving side according to embodiments of the present invention may correspond to the methods of providing the broadcast service by the transmitting side according to the embodiments of the present invention described above. The methods of providing the broadcast service by the receiving side may be performed by hardware modules corresponding to the modules used in the methods of providing the broadcast service by the transmitting side (for example, the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth modules of the transmitting side, etc.). The methods of providing the broadcast service by the receiving side may have embodiments corresponding to the embodiments of the methods of providing the broadcast service by the transmitting side described above.

According to a given embodiment, the above-described steps may be omitted or replaced by other steps in which the same/similar operations are performed.

FIG. 46 illustrates an apparatus for providing the broadcast service by the transmitting side according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The apparatus for providing the broadcast service by the transmitting side according to the present embodiment may include the first second, third, fourth, and/or fifth modules of the transmitting side described above. The respective blocks and modules have been described above.

The apparatus for providing the broadcast service by the transmitting side according to the present embodiment and the internal modules/blocks may perform the embodiments of the methods of providing the broadcast service by the transmitting side of the present invention described above.

A description will be given of an apparatus for providing the broadcast service by the receiving side according to an embodiment of the present invention. This apparatus is not illustrated in any figure.

The apparatus for providing the broadcast service by the receiving side according to the present embodiment may include the first second, third, fourth, and/or fifth modules of the receiving side described above. The respective blocks and modules have been described above.

The apparatus for providing the broadcast service by the receiving side according to the present embodiment and the internal modules/blocks may perform the embodiments of the methods of providing the broadcast service by the receiving side of the present invention described above.

The internal modules/blocks of the apparatuses described above may correspond to processors for executing continuous processes stored in a memory, and may correspond to hardware elements located inside/outside the apparatuses according to a given embodiment.

According to a given embodiment, the above-described modules may be omitted or replaced by other modules for performing the same/similar operations.

FIG. 47 illustrates an AST transmitted through a broadcast network according to an embodiment of the present invention.

When the AST is transmitted through the broadcast network, an AST for an application enhancement may be transmitted through a service signaling channel of the broadcast service to which the application enhancement is related. Here, the service signaling channel of the service may refer to a path through which the above-described SLS is delivered.

A broadcast signal (broadcast stream) having a certain frequency may include service data and/or signaling data for the service. For example, the broadcast signal may be identified by the certain frequency.

The broadcast signal may include a first ROUTE session (sIP#A/dIP#A/dPort#A). The service data for the service may be transmitted through the first ROUTE session.

The service data may include a video component and/or an audio component for the service. The video component may include at least one video segment having video data. The audio component may include at least one audio segment having audio data. The video component may be transmitted through a certain transmission session of the first ROUTE session. The audio component may be transmitted through another transmission session of the first ROUTE session.

The signaling data may include low level signaling data and/or service layer signaling data. For example, the low level signaling data may include an FIT and/or an SLT. The low level signaling data may be included in an IP/UDP packet and transmitted. The service layer signaling data may be referred to as an SLS. The service layer signaling data may include a USBD, an MPD, an S-TSID, and/or an AST. The USBD, the MPD, the 5-TSID, and/or the AST may be transmitted through a certain transmission session. For example, the SLS may be transmitted through a certain LCT transmission session included in the first ROUTE session (sIP#A/dIP#A/dPort#A). Specifically, the SLS may be transmitted through a first transmission session (tsi-sls) specified by tsi=0.

The first ROUTE session (sIP#A/dIP#A/dPort#A) may be identified by a combination of a source IP Address (sIP#A), a destination IP Address (dIP#A), and a destination port number (dPort#A). In addition, the first ROUTE session may be transmitted through at least one PLP. For example, the first ROUTE session may be transmitted through a first PLP (PLP #A). Further, the first ROUTE session may include the first transmission session (tsi-sls), a second transmission session (tsi-app), and/or a third transmission session (not illustrated).

The first transmission session (tsi-sls) may include at least one service layer signaling information. For example, the service layer signaling information may include at least one of the USBD, the MPD, the S-TSID, and/or the AST described above.

The second transmission session (tsi-app) may include at least one application. For example, the application may refer to a set of documents (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc.) included in an enhancement/interactive service.

The third transmission session may include a video component. For example, the video component may include at least one video segment. A transmission object identifier for the video segment may have a certain value.

Hereinafter, the SLT (or FIT) will be described.

The SLT enables the receiver to create a basic service list and bootstrap discovery of an SLS for each service. The SLT may be transmitted through UDP/IP. The SLT may include bootstrapping information for acquiring basic information and service layer signaling information related to the service.

For example, the SLT may include a Broadcast_Stream_id attribute and a first service element (Service #A).

The Broadcast_Stream_id attribute is an identifier of a whole broadcast stream. A value of a Broadcast_Stream_id field may be unique at a regional level.

The first service element (Service #A) may include at least one of a serviceId attribute and/or a signaling_broadcast element.

The serviceId attribute may be an integer for uniquely identifying the corresponding service in a range of a broadcast region.

The signaling_broadcast element may include information for signaling information for the service transmitted through the broadcast network. The signaling_broadcast element enables the receiver to bootstrap discovery of an SLS for each service.

The signaling_broadcast element may include at least one of a source IP Address, a destination IP Address, a destination port number, a PLPID, and a transmission session identifier (TSI) related to an SLS for each service.

For example, the source IP Address, the destination IP Address, and/or the destination port number may indicate the first ROUTE session (sIP#A/dIP#A/dPort#/A). In addition, the PLPID may indicate the first PLP (PLP #A). Further, the TSI may indicate the first transmission session (tsi-sls).

Hereinafter, the SLS will be described.

The SLS may be transmitted through the broadcast network. The SLS may be transmitted through a certain LCT transmission session included in the first ROUTE session (sIP#A/dIP#A/dPort#A). Specifically, the SLS may be transmitted through the first transmission session (tsi-sls) specified by tsi=0. The SLS may include at least one of a USBD, an MPD, an S-TSID, and/or an AST.

The USBD may describe service layer attributes. In addition, the USBD may include reference information (or a URI) referencing the MPD and/or the S-TSID. Details of the USBD (C620210) may include whole content about the USBD described above.

The MPD may include resource identifiers for separate media components of a linear/streaming service. For example, the MPD may include a DASH MPD for all components transmitted through a mobile broadcast network, a general broadcast network, and/or an Internet protocol network. The DASH MPD may include a formalized description of DASH Media Presentation. The DASH MPD may include resource identifiers for separate media components of the linear/streaming service. In addition, the DASH MPD may include context of resources identified in the media presentation. For example, the resource identifiers may correspond to information for identifying representation related to a component for the service. For example, the resource identifiers may have a form of a segment URL.

The S-TSID is a type of SLS XML fragment that provides all session description information for at least one transmission session for transmitting at least one content component of the service.

The S-TSID may include a first ROUTE session element (RS) that provides information about a ROUTE session for a service and/or a component included in the service. The first ROUTE session element (RS) may include transmission path information for the first ROUTE session. In addition, the first ROUTE session element (RS) may include information about a transmission session (or a layered coding transport session) included in the ROUTE session. For example, the first ROUTE session element (RS) may include a second transmission session element (LS) including information about the second transmission session. The second transmission session element (LS) may include transmission path information for the second transmission session.

Specifically, the second transmission session element (LS) may include a tsi attribute for identifying a transmission session in which a content component for the service is transmitted and a SrcFlow element that describes a source flow included in the ROUTE session. The SrcFlow element may include an nrt attribute that indicates whether the SrcFlow element transmits NRT service data. Alternatively, the SrcFlow element may include an rt attribute that indicates whether the SrcFlow element transmits streaming media data. In other words, the nrt attribute may perform the same function as that of the rt attribute. Further, the nrt attribute and the rt attribute may be replaced by each other. For example, when the tsi attribute corresponds to “tsi-app”, the corresponding transmission session element may include information for the second transmission session. In addition, when the nrt attribute corresponds to “true”, the SrcFlow element may transmit NRT service data.

The AST may include signaling information for an application. Details of the AST may include all of the above-described content.

The AST may include a ContentLinkage attribute. The ContentLinkage attribute may indicate an application that uses a corresponding content item. Signaling for a certain application may be performed by a value of this attribute and information about events (EventStream element, emsg box, etc.) to be described below.

For example, the ContentLinkage attribute may provide an application identifier for identifying an application which is transmitted through the second transmission session. Alternatively, the ContentLinkage attribute may provide a transmission session identifier for identifying the second transmission session (or LCT session).

A broadcast receiver may acquire a service based on signaling data. Specifically, the broadcast receiver may acquire low level signaling data, and acquire service layer signaling data based on the low level signaling data.

In addition, the broadcast receiver may acquire an attribute of the service using the service layer signaling data (USBD). Further, the broadcast receiver may refer to and/or acquire an MPD and/or an S-TSID using the USBD.

In addition, the broadcast receiver may acquire information about at least one component (or representation) for the service using the service layer signaling data (USBD and/or MPD). For example, the broadcast receiver may acquire information about a video component.

In addition, the broadcast receiver may acquire transmission path information of at least one component using the service layer signaling data (S-TSID). Further, the broadcast receiver may acquire transmission path information of another component for the at least one component using the service layer signaling data (S-TSID). For example, the other component for the at least one component may include the application.

In addition, the broadcast receiver may acquire service data for the service based on the service layer signaling data (transmission path information). For example, the broadcast receiver may receive the application in non-real time through the second transmission session (tsi-app).

In addition, the broadcast receiver may acquire information for identifying the application based on the service layer signaling data (AST).

The broadcast receiver may operate the application at predetermined timing while reproducing the video component.

FIG. 48 illustrates an AST transmitted through a broadband network according to an embodiment of the present invention.

When the AST is transmitted through the broadband network, the AST may be acquired through a query. This query may be generated using information about a base URL in an SLT. This base URL may correspond to URL information for acquiring the AST. Here, the SLT may correspond to an SLT including bootstrap information for a broadcast service related to the AST.

A broadcast signal (broadcast stream) having a certain frequency may include service data and/or signaling data for the service. The broadcast signal may include a first ROUTE session (sIP#A/dIP#A/dPort#A). The first ROUTE session may be transmitted through a first PLP (PLP #A). In addition, the first ROUTE session may include a first transmission session (not illustrated), a second transmission session (tsi-app), and/or a third transmission session (not illustrated). The first transmission session may include at least one service layer signaling information. The second transmission session (tsi-app) may include at least one application. The third transmission session may include a video component. Content about the first ROUTE session (sIP#A/dIP#A/dPort#A), the first PLP (PLP #A), the first transmission session, the second transmission session (tsi-app), and/or the third transmission session may include all of the above-described content about the first ROUTE session (sIP#A/dIP#A/dPort#A), the first PLP (PLP #A), the first transmission session, the second transmission session (tsi-app), and/or the third transmission session.

Hereinafter, the SLT (or FIT) will be described.

Content about the SLT according to an embodiment of the present invention may include all of the above-described content of the SLT. Hereinafter, a description will be given focusing on differences.

For example, the SLT may include a Broadcast_Stream_id attribute and a first service element (Service #A). The first service element (Service #A) may include at least one of a serviceId attribute and/or a signaling_broadband element.

The serviceId attribute may correspond to an integer for uniquely identifying the corresponding service in a range of a broadcast region.

The signaling_broadband element may include path information (or URL) for accessing Internet signaling information (for example, SLS) for the service. The signaling_broadband element enables the receiver to bootstrap discovery of an SLS for each service. In this case, the SLS may be transmitted through the broadband network.

The signaling_broadband element may include broadbandServerURL_AST which includes path information (or URL) for accessing the AST for the service. In this case, the AST may be transmitted through the broadband network.

Hereinafter, the SLS will be described.

The SLS may include at least one of a USBD, an MPD, an S-TSID, and/or an AST. Content related to the SLS may include all of the above-described content about the SLS. However, one difference is that the SLS may be transmitted through the broadband network.

The broadcast receiver according to the present embodiment may receive, through a broadcast network, a broadcast signal including at least one of service data and signaling data (for example, low level signaling data or SLT) for the service.

The broadcast receiver according to the present embodiment may acquire the service based on the signaling data. Specifically, the broadcast receiver may acquire the low level signaling data, and acquire service layer signaling data based on the low level signaling data. The service layer signaling data may be transmitted through the broadband network.

In addition, the broadcast receiver may acquire an attribute of the service using the service layer signaling data (USBD). Further, the broadcast receiver may refer to and/or acquire the MPD and/or the S-TSID using the USBD.

In addition, the broadcast receiver may acquire information about at least one component (or representation) for the service using the service layer signaling data (USBD and/or MPD). For example, the broadcast receiver may acquire information about a video component.

In addition, the broadcast receiver may acquire transmission path information of at least one component using the service layer signaling data (S-TSID). Further, the broadcast receiver may acquire transmission path information of another component for the at least one component using the service layer signaling data (S-TSID). For example, the other component for the at least one component may include the application.

In addition, the broadcast receiver may acquire service data for the service based on the service layer signaling data (transmission path information). For example, the broadcast receiver may receive the application in non-real time through the second transmission session (tsi-app).

In addition, the broadcast receiver may acquire information for identifying the application based on the service layer signaling data (AST).

The broadcast receiver may operate the application at predetermined timing while reproducing the video component.

FIG. 49 illustrates an event transmitted in the form of an EventStream element through a broadcast network according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The event may be transmitted in the form of the EventStream element which appears in a Period element of an MPD. Content about the EventStream element which is transmitted through the broadcast network may include all of the above-described content about the EventStream element.

A broadcast signal (broadcast stream) having a certain frequency may include service data and/or signaling data for the service. The broadcast signal may include a first ROUTE session (sIP#A/dIP#A/dPort#A). The first ROUTE session may be transmitted through a first PLP (PLP #A). In addition, the first ROUTE session may include a first transmission session (tsi-sls), a second transmission session (tsi-app), and/or a third transmission session (not illustrated). The first transmission session (tsi-sls) may include at least one service layer signaling information. For example, the service layer signaling information may include at least one of the USBD, the MPD, the S-TSID, and/or the AST described above. The second transmission session (tsi-app) may include at least one application. The third transmission session may include a video component. Content about the first ROUTE session (sIP#A/dIP#A/dPort#A), the first PLP (PLP #A), the first transmission session, the second transmission session (tsi-app), and/or the third transmission session may include all of the above-described content about the first ROUTE session (sIP#A/dIP#A/dPort#A), the first PLP (PLP #A), the first transmission session, the second transmission session (tsi-app), and/or the third transmission session.

Hereinafter, an SLT will be described.

The SLT enables the receiver to create a basic service list and bootstrap discovery of an SLS for each service. For example, the SLT may include path information for the first ROUTE session (sIP#A/dIP#A/dPort#A). In addition, the SLT may include path information for the first transmission session (tsi-sls). Content about the SLT according to the present embodiment may include all of the above-described content about the SLT.

Hereinafter, the SLS will be described.

The SLS may include at least one of a USBD, an MPD, an S-TSID, and/or an AST. Content related to the SLS may include all of the above-described content about the SLS. Hereinafter, the MPD will be described in further detail.

The MPD corresponds to service signaling information for a certain service, and may provide signaling information at a time interval of the service referred to as a period. Signaling information related to the period is included in an MPD Period element, and this Period element may include an EventStream element. The EventStream element may provide signaling (event) necessary for operations of applications during the period of the service.

The EventStream element may include a schemeIdUri attribute, a value attribute, a timescale attribute, and/or at least one Event sub-element. Each Event sub-element may include a presentationTime attribute, a duration attribute and/or an id attribute. Details of the EventStream element may include all of the above-described content about the EventStream element.

For example, the schemeIdUri attribute may have a value of “urn:uuid:XYZY”. In addition, the value attribute may have a value of “call”. Further, the timescale attribute may have a value of “1000”.

In addition, with regard to a first event, the presentationTime attribute may have a value of “0”, the duration attribute may have a value of “10000”, and/or the id attribute may have a value of “0”. Further, a data element/attribute may correspond to “+1 800 10101010”.

With regard to a second event, the presentationTime attribute may have a value of “20000”, the duration attribute may have a value of “10000”, and/or the id attribute may have a value of “1”. Further, a data element/attribute may correspond to “+1 800 10101011”.

With regard to a third event, the presentationTime attribute may have a value of “40000”, the duration attribute may have a value of “10000”, and/or the id attribute may have a value of “2”. Further, a data element/attribute may correspond to “+1 800 10101012”.

With regard to a fourth event, the presentationTime attribute may have a value of “60000”, the duration attribute may have a value of “10000”, and/or the id attribute may have a value of “3”. Further, a data element/attribute may correspond to “+1 800 10101013”.

The broadcast receiver according to the present embodiment may receive a broadcast signal including at least one of service data and signaling data (for example, low level signaling data or service layer signaling data) for a service through a broadcast network.

The broadcast receiver according to the present embodiment may acquire the service based on the signaling data. Specifically, the broadcast receiver may acquire the low level signaling data, and acquire the service layer signaling data based on the low level signaling data.

In addition, the broadcast receiver may acquire an attribute of the service using the service layer signaling data (USBD). Further, the broadcast receiver may refer to and/or acquire an MPD and/or an S-TSID using the USBD.

In addition, the broadcast receiver may acquire information about at least one component (or representation) for the service using the service layer signaling data (USBD and/or MPD). For example, the broadcast receiver may acquire information about a video component.

In addition, the broadcast receiver may acquire transmission path information of at least one component using the service layer signaling data (S-TSID). Further, the broadcast receiver may acquire transmission path information of another component for the at least one component using the service layer signaling data (S-TSID). For example, the other component for the at least one component may include the application.

In addition, the broadcast receiver may acquire service data for the service based on the service layer signaling data (transmission path information). For example, the broadcast receiver may receive the application in non-real time through the second transmission session (tsi-app).

In addition, the broadcast receiver may acquire information for identifying the application based on the service layer signaling data (AST).

In addition, the broadcast receiver may operate the application based on the event. For example, the event may be transmitted in the form of the EventStream element which appears in the Period element. The broadcast receiver may operate the application at predetermined timing while reproducing the video component.

FIG. 50 illustrates an event transmitted in the form of an emsg box through a broadcast network according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The event may be transmitted in the form of the emsg box which appears in segments of Representation (or Representation segments). Content about the emsg box transmitted through the broadcast network may include all of the above-described content about the emsg box.

A broadcast signal (broadcast stream) having a certain frequency may include service data and/or signaling data for a service. The broadcast signal may include a first ROUTE session (sIP#A/dIP#A/dPort#A). The first ROUTE session may be transmitted through a first PLP (PLP #A). In addition, the first ROUTE session may include a first transmission session (tsi-sls), a second transmission session (tsi-app), and/or a third transmission session (tsi-v). The first transmission session (tsi-sls) may include at least one service layer signaling information. For example, the service layer signaling information may include at least one of the USBD, the MPD, the S-TSID, and/or the AST described above. The second transmission session (tsi-app) may include at least one application. The third transmission session may include a video component. The video component may include at least one video segment which includes video data. The at least one video segment may include the emsg box.

Content about the first ROUTE session (sIP#A/dIP#A/dPort#A), the first PLP (PLP #A), the first transmission session, the second transmission session (tsi-app), and/or the third transmission session (tsi-v) may include all of the above-described content about the first ROUTE session (sIP#A/dIP#A/dPort#A), the first PLP (PLP #A), the first transmission session, the second transmission session (tsi-app), and/or the third transmission session (tsi-v).

Hereinafter, the emsg box included in the segments will be described.

The emsg box may provide signaling information for generic events related to a media presentation time. The emsg box may include at least one of a schemeIdUri field, a value field, a timescale field, a presentationTimeDelta field, an eventDuration field, an id field, and/or a messageData field. Content about the emsg box may include all of the above-described content of the emsg box.

Hereinafter, an SLT will be described.

The SLT enables the receiver to create a basic service list and bootstrap discovery of an SLS for each service. For example, the SLT may include path information for the first ROUTE session (sIP#A/dIP#A/dPort#A). In addition, the SLT may include path information for the first transmission session (tsi-sls). Content about the SLT according to the present embodiment may include all of the above-described content about the SLT.

Hereinafter, the SLS will be described.

The SLS may include at least one of a USBD, an MPD, an S-TSID, and/or an AST. Content related to the SLS may include all of the above-described content about the SLS. Hereinafter, the S-TSID and/or the MPD will be described in further detail.

The S-TSID may include a first ROUTE session element (RS) that provides information about a ROUTE session for a service and/or a component included in the service. The first ROUTE session element (RS) may include transmission path information for the first ROUTE session. In addition, the first ROUTE session element (RS) may include information about a transmission session (or a layered coding transport session) included in the ROUTE session. For example, the first ROUTE session element (RS) may include a second transmission session element (LS) including information about the second transmission session. The second transmission session element (LS) may include transmission path information for the second transmission session. In addition, the first ROUTE session element (RS) may include a third transmission session element (LS) including information about the third transmission session. The third transmission session element (LS) may include transmission path information for the third transmission session.

Specifically, each of the second transmission session element (LS) and/or the third transmission session element (LS) may include a tsi attribute for identifying a transmission session in which a content component for the service is transmitted and a SrcFlow element that describes a source flow included in the ROUTE session.

The SrcFlow element may include an nrt attribute that indicates whether the SrcFlow element transmits NRT service data. Alternatively, the SrcFlow element may include an rt attribute that indicates whether the SrcFlow element transmits streaming media data. In other words, the nrt attribute may perform the same function as that of the rt attribute. Further, the nrt attribute and the rt attribute may be replaced by each other.

The SrcFlow element may further include an appID attribute which includes additional information mapped to a service (or an application service) transmitted through a transmission session. The appID attribute may be referred to as a ContentInfo element. The ContentInfo element may include additional information mapped to the service (or the application service) transmitted through the transmission session. For example, the ContentInfo element may include a representation identifier (ID) of DASH content and/or adaptation set parameters of DASH media representation in order to select an LCT transmission session for rendering. The representation ID is an ID related to a component for the service, and may be referred to as an id attribute. Therefore, the appID attribute in the SrcFlow element may be matched with an id attribute in a Representation element of the MPD.

With regard to the second transmission session element (LS), when the tsi attribute corresponds to “tsi-app”, the transmission session element may include information for the second transmission session. In addition, when the nrt attribute corresponds to “true”, the SrcFlow element may transmit NRT service data. In other words, the application may be transmitted in non-real time through the second transmission session (tsi-app).

With regard to the third transmission session element (LS), when the tsi attribute corresponds to “tsi-app”, the transmission session element may include information for the third transmission session. In addition, when the nrt attribute corresponds to “false”, the SrcFlow element may transmit real-time service data. Further, when the appID attribute corresponds to “rep_v1”, a representation ID of the video component may correspond to “rep_v1”. In other words, at least one video segment of the video component identified by “rep_v1” may be transmitted in real time through the third transmission session (tsi-v).

The MPD may include resource identifiers for separate media components of a linear/streaming service. The MPD may include the Period element. The Period element may include an AdaptationSet element which includes information about the video component. The AdaptationSet element may include at least one Representation element. The Representation element may include information about a representation related to the component.

The Representation element may include an id attribute for identifying the representation. For example, the id attribute may have a value of “rep_v1”. In other words, the id attribute may indicate the video component transmitted through the third transmission session (tsi-v).

In addition, the Representation element may further include an InbandEventStream element that specifies the presence of an in-band event stream in the related representation. The InbandEventStream element of the Representation element of the MPD may signal whether an event is present the emsg box in the segments.

The InbandEventStream element may include a schemeIdURI attribute and/or a value attribute. These two attributes may indicate a type of the event in the emsg box. According to a given embodiment, these two attributes may be used to identify the event. The schemeIdURI attribute and/or the value attribute included in the InbandEventStream element may be matched with a schemeIdURI attribute and/or a value attribute in the emsg box. For example, the schemeIdURI attribute may have a value of “event_URI #1”, and the value attribute may have a value of “abc”.

The broadcast receiver according to the present embodiment may receive a broadcast signal including at least one of service data and signaling data (for example, low level signaling data or service layer signaling data) for a service through a broadcast network.

The broadcast receiver according to the present embodiment may acquire the service based on the signaling data. Specifically, the broadcast receiver may acquire the low level signaling data, and acquire the service layer signaling data based on the low level signaling data.

In addition, the broadcast receiver may acquire an attribute of the service using the service layer signaling data (USBD). Further, the broadcast receiver may refer to and/or acquire an MPD and/or an S-TSID using the USBD.

In addition, the broadcast receiver may acquire information about at least one component (or representation) for the service using the service layer signaling data (USBD and/or MPD). For example, the broadcast receiver may acquire information about a video component. In this instance, the Representation element of the MPD may include an InbandEventStream element that specifies the presence of the emsg box (or in-band event stream) in the video component.

In addition, the broadcast receiver may acquire transmission path information of at least one component using the service layer signaling data (S-TSID). Further, the broadcast receiver may acquire transmission path information of another component for the at least one component using the service layer signaling data (S-TSID). For example, the other component for the at least one component may include the application.

In addition, the broadcast receiver may acquire service data for the service based on the service layer signaling data (transmission path information). For example, the broadcast receiver may receive the application in non-real time through the second transmission session (tsi-app). Further, the broadcast receiver may receive at least one video segment of the video component identified by “rep_v1” through the third transmission session (tsi-v) in real time. The at least one video segment may include the emsg box.

In addition, the broadcast receiver may acquire information for identifying the application based on the service layer signaling data (AST).

In addition, the broadcast receiver may operate the application based on the event. For example, the event may be included in the segments in the form of the emsg box. The broadcast receiver may operate the application at predetermined timing while reproducing the video component.

FIG. 51 illustrates an event transmitted in the form of an EventStream element through a broadband network according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The event may be transmitted in the form of the EventStream element which is included in an EST transmitted through the broadband network. When the EST is transmitted through the broadband network, the EST may be acquired through a query. This query may be generated using URL information in an ALT. This URL information may be URL information for acquiring the EST. Content about the EventStream element transmitted through the broadband network may include all of the above-described content about the EventStream element.

A broadcast signal (broadcast stream) having a certain frequency may include service data and/or signaling data for a service. The broadcast signal may include a first ROUTE session (sIP#A/dIP#A/dPort#A). The first ROUTE session may be transmitted through a first PLP (PLP #A). In addition, the first ROUTE session may include a first transmission session (tsi-sls), a second transmission session (tsi-app), and/or a third transmission session (not illustrated). The first transmission session (tsi-sls) may include at least one service layer signaling information. For example, the service layer signaling information may include at least one of the USBD, the MPD (not illustrated), the S-TSID, and/or the AST described above. The second transmission session (tsi-app) may include at least one application. The third transmission session may include a video component. According to a given embodiment, the MPD may be omitted. Content about the first ROUTE session (sIP#A/dIP#A/dPort#A), the first PLP (PLP #A the first transmission session, the second transmission session (tsi-app), and/or the third transmission session according to the present embodiment may include all of the above-described content about the first ROUTE session (sIP#A/dIP#A/dPort#A), the first PLP (PLP #A the first transmission session, the second transmission session (tsi-app), and/or the third transmission session.

Hereinafter, an SLT will be described.

The SLT may include path information for the first ROUTE session (sIP#A/dIP#A/dPort#A). In addition, the SLT may include path information for the first transmission session (tsi-sls). Content about the SLT according to the present embodiment may include all of the above-described content of the SLT.

Hereinafter, an SLS will be described.

The SLS may include at least one of a USBD, an MPD, an S-TSID, and/or an AST. Content about the SLS may include all of the above-described content about the SLS. Hereinafter, the AST will be described in further detail.

The AST may include a ContentLinkage attribute. The ContentLinkage attribute may indicate an application that uses a corresponding content item. Signaling for a certain application may be performed by a value of this attribute and information about events (EventStream element, emsg box, etc.) to be described below.

For example, the ContentLinkage attribute may provide an application identifier for identifying an application which is transmitted through the second transmission session. Alternatively, the ContentLinkage attribute may provide a transmission session identifier for identifying the second transmission session (or LCT session).

The AST may further include a BroadbandStaticEventURL attribute. The BroadbandStaticEventURL attribute may include path information (or a URL) for accessing the EST for the service. In this case, the EST may be transmitted through the broadband network. The EST may include an EventStream element. The EventStream element may provide signaling (event) necessary for operations of applications.

The EventStream element may include a schemeIdUri attribute, a value attribute, a timescale attribute, and/or at least one Event sub-element. Each Event sub-element may include a presentationTime attribute, a duration attribute and/or an id attribute. Details of the EventStream element may include all of the above-described content about the EventStream element.

For example, the schemeIdUri attribute may have a value of “urn:uuid:XYZY”. In addition, the value attribute may have a value of “call”. Further, the timescale attribute may have a value of “1000”.

In addition, with regard to a first event, the presentationTime attribute may have a value of “0”, the duration attribute may have a value of “10000”, and/or the id attribute may have a value of “0”. Further, a data element/attribute may correspond to “+1 800 10101010”.

With regard to a second event, the presentationTime attribute may have a value of “20000”, the duration attribute may have a value of “10000”, and/or the id attribute may have a value of “1”. Further, a data element/attribute may correspond to “+1 800 10101011”.

With regard to a third event, the presentationTime attribute may have a value of “40000”, the duration attribute may have a value of “10000”, and/or the id attribute may have a value of “2”. Further, a data element/attribute may correspond to “+1 800 10101012”.

With regard to a fourth event, the presentationTime attribute may have a value of “60000”, the duration attribute may have a value of “10000”, and/or the id attribute may have a value of “3”. Further, a data element/attribute may correspond to “+1 800 10101013”.

The broadcast receiver according to the present embodiment may receive a broadcast signal including at least one of service data and signaling data (for example, low level signaling data or service layer signaling data) for a service through a broadcast network.

The broadcast receiver according to the present embodiment may acquire the service based on the signaling data. Specifically, the broadcast receiver may acquire the low level signaling data, and acquire the service layer signaling data based on the low level signaling data.

In addition, the broadcast receiver may acquire an attribute of the service using the service layer signaling data (USBD). Further, the broadcast receiver may refer to and/or acquire an MPD and/or an S-TSID using the USBD.

In addition, the broadcast receiver may acquire information about at least one component (or representation) for the service using the service layer signaling data (USBD and/or MPD). For example, the broadcast receiver may acquire information about a video component.

In addition, the broadcast receiver may acquire transmission path information of at least one component using the service layer signaling data (S-TSID). Further, the broadcast receiver may acquire transmission path information of another component for the at least one component using the service layer signaling data (S-TSID). For example, the other component for the at least one component may include the application.

In addition, the broadcast receiver may acquire service data for the service based on the service layer signaling data (transmission path information). For example, the broadcast receiver may receive the application in non-real time through the second transmission session (tsi-app).

In addition, the broadcast receiver may acquire information for identifying the application based on the service layer signaling data (AST). Further, the broadcast receiver may acquire the EST through the broadband network based on the service layer signaling data (AST).

In addition, the broadcast receiver may operate the application based on the event. For example, the event may be transmitted in the form of the EventStream element which is included in the EST transmitted through the broadband network.

The broadcast receiver may operate the application at predetermined timing while reproducing the video component.

FIG. 52 illustrates an event transmitted in the form of an emsg box through a broadband network according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The event may be transmitted in the form of the emsg box transmitted through the broadband network. In this case, the event may be delivered through a live event server. Polling may be periodically performed using the live event server. When an event to be transmitted in the corresponding period is present, the event server may deliver the event to a receiver. Content about the emsg box transmitted through the broadband network may include all of the above-described content about the emsg box.

A broadcast signal (broadcast stream) having a certain frequency may include service data and/or signaling data for a service. The broadcast signal may include a first ROUTE session (sIP#A/dIP#A/dPort#A). The first ROUTE session may be transmitted through a first PLP (PLP #A). In addition, the first ROUTE session may include a first transmission session (tsi-sls), a second transmission session (tsi-app), and/or a third transmission session (not illustrated). The first transmission session (tsi-sls) may include at least one service layer signaling information. For example, the service layer signaling information may include at least one of the USBD, the MPD (not illustrated), the S-TSID, and/or the AST described above. The second transmission session (tsi-app) may include at least one application. The third transmission session may include a video component. According to a given embodiment, the MPD may be omitted. Content about the first ROUTE session (sIP#A/dIP#A/dPort#A), the first PLP (PLP #A), the first transmission session, the second transmission session (tsi-app), and/or the third transmission session according to the present embodiment may include all of the above-described content about the first ROUTE session (sIP#A/dIP#A/dPort#A), the first PLP (PLP #A), the first transmission session, the second transmission session (tsi-app), and/or the third transmission session.

Hereinafter, an SLT will be described.

The SLT may include path information for the first ROUTE session (sIP#A/dIP#A/dPort#A). In addition, the SLT may include path information for the first transmission session (tsi-sls). Content about the SLT according to the present embodiment may include all of the above-described content of the SLT.

Hereinafter, an SLS will be described.

The SLS may include at least one of a USBD, an MPD, an S-TSID, and/or an AST. Content about the SLS may include all of the above-described content about the SLS. Hereinafter, the AST will be described in further detail.

The AST may include a ContentLinkage attribute. The ContentLinkage attribute may indicate an application that uses a corresponding content item. Signaling for a certain application may be performed using a value of this attribute and information about events (EventStream element, emsg box, etc.) to be described below.

For example, the ContentLinkage attribute may provide an application identifier for identifying an application which is transmitted through the second transmission session. Alternatively, the ContentLinkage attribute may provide a transmission session identifier for identifying the second transmission session (or LCT session).

The AST may further include a BroadbandStaticEventURL attribute. The BroadbandStaticEventURL attribute may include path information (or a URL) for accessing the emsg box for the service. In this case, the emsg box may be transmitted through the broadband network. The emsg box may provide signaling (event) necessary for operations of applications.

The emsg box may provide signaling information for generic events related to a media presentation time. The emsg box may include at least one of a schemeIdUri field, a value field, a timescale field, a presentationTimeDelta field, an eventDuration field, an id field, and/or a messageData field. Content about the emsg box may include all of the above-described content of the emsg box.

For example, the schemeIdUri field may have a value of “um:uuid:XYZY”.

The broadcast receiver according to the present embodiment may receive a broadcast signal including at least one of service data and signaling data (for example, low level signaling data or service layer signaling data) for a service through a broadcast network.

The broadcast receiver according to the present embodiment may acquire the service based on the signaling data. Specifically, the broadcast receiver may acquire the low level signaling data, and acquire the service layer signaling data based on the low level signaling data.

In addition, the broadcast receiver may acquire an attribute of the service using the service layer signaling data (USBD). Further, the broadcast receiver may refer to and/or acquire an MPD and/or an S-TSID using the USBD.

In addition, the broadcast receiver may acquire information about at least one component (or representation) for the service using the service layer signaling data (USBD and/or MPD). For example, the broadcast receiver may acquire information about a video component.

In addition, the broadcast receiver may acquire transmission path information of at least one component using the service layer signaling data (S-TSID). Further, the broadcast receiver may acquire transmission path information of another component for the at least one component using the service layer signaling data (S-TSID). For example, the other component for the at least one component may include the application.

In addition, the broadcast receiver may acquire service data for the service based on the service layer signaling data (transmission path information). For example, the broadcast receiver may receive the application in non-real time through the second transmission session (tsi-app).

In addition, the broadcast receiver may acquire information for identifying the application based on the service layer signaling data (AST). Further, the broadcast receiver may acquire the emsg box through the broadband network based on the service layer signaling data (AST).

In addition, the broadcast receiver may operate the application based on the event. For example, the event may be transmitted in the form of the emsg box transmitted through the broadband network.

The broadcast receiver may operate the application at predetermined timing while reproducing the video component.

FIG. 53 illustrates an API and an event listener according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 53(a) illustrates the listener.

An event processor may correspond to code executed in response to occurrence of an event. For example, the event processor may correspond to JavaScript code for execution when the event occurs. The event processor may include the event listener (or listener). Unlike an event handler which can process only one event for one element, the event listener may process at least one event for one element.

The listener may include a general signature of a document object model (DOM) event listener. Here, a DOM refers to a model (system) that supports the event handler such that the event handler is connectable to all element nodes.

The listener according to the present embodiment may include an object of a StreamEvent type as a parameter. For example, the listener may have a form such as listener (StreamEvent event).

The object of the StreamEvent type delivered to the listener has an extended form of an object of a general DOM event type.

The object of the StreamEvent type may include a name attribute, a data attribute, a text attribute, a status attribute, and/or a time attribute.

The name attribute may indicate a name of an event. The name attribute is a read-only attribute, and may correspond to a string type.

The data attribute may indicate data of an event encoded as a hexadecimal number. For example, the data attribute may have a value of “0A10B81033”. The data attribute is a read-only attribute, and may correspond to a string type.

The text attribute may indicate text data of an event. For example, when the data attribute includes text, the text attribute may have values in ASCII code. In addition, the text attribute may correspond to a child element of an Event element for activation of the event, and include data identified by a data identifier (dataID) which is specified in a trigger or specified in an Event element of an EMT. The text attribute is a read-only attribute, and may correspond to a string type.

The status attribute may indicate a state of an event. When the event is activated in response to a trigger, the status attribute may indicate “trigger”. When several types of errors occur, the status attribute may indicate “error”. The status attribute is a read-only attribute, and may correspond to a DOMString type.

The time attribute may indicate a time at which an event occurs. The time attribute is a read-only attribute, and may have an integer type.

FIG. 53(b) illustrates the API for addition and/or deletion of the event listener (or listener).

A method of processing an event according to an embodiment of the present invention may include a scheme of connecting the event listener to a method of an object. This method is a method of connecting the event listener to the method of the object, and executing the method of the object when the event occurs thereafter.

AddStreamEventListener API and/or removeStreamEventListener API according to an embodiment of the present invention may be used to support this method of processing the event.

AddStreamEventListener API may add the listener for the event (for example, the event listener or a stream event listener). AddStreamEventListener API may add a listener for an event designated by an event identifier (for example, eventID) within a range of a currently executed html application to an AST. When the event is activated by a trigger, the listener is called. In addition, an object of a TriggerEvent type (or a StreamEvent type) may be delivered. Listeners may be added only when a video/broadcast object is in a presenting and/or stopped state.

AddStreamEventListener API may include at least one of a targetURL parameter, an eventName parameter, and/or a Listener parameter. For example, addStreamEventListener API may have a form such as addStreamEventListener(targetURL, eventName, listener).

The targetURL parameter may indicate a URL of a StreamEvent object that describes an event. Alternatively, the targetURL parameter may be mapped to a schemeIdURl attribute of a DASH EventStream element.

The eventName parameter may indicate a name of an event to be subscribed. Alternatively, the eventName parameter may be mapped to a value attribute of the DASH EventStream element.

The Listener parameter may indicate a listener for an event. The Listener parameter may correspond to a callback function. When the event occurs, the Listener parameter may be called as a parameter together with a delivered StreamEvent object.

The targetURL parameter and the eventName parameter may correspond to event identifiers for identifying an event. For example, addStreamEventListener API may include an event identifier (eventId) parameter and a listener parameter. For example, addStreamEventListener API may have a form of addTriggerEventListener(String eventId, EventListener listener). The event identifier may correspond to an identifier (for example, an EventID attribute or an id attribute) of an event present in an event element in the EMT. In addition, the event identifier may correspond to an identifier (for example, an id field of an emsg box) of an event dynamically updated by a trigger.

RemoveStreamEventListener API may delete a listener for an event. RemoveStreamEventListener API may delete a listener for an event designated by an event identifier (for example, eventID).

RemoveStreamEventListener API may include at least one of a targetURL parameter, an eventName parameter, and/or a Listener parameter. For example, removeStreamEventListener API may have a form such as removeStreamEventListener(targetURL, eventName, listener).

The targetURL parameter may indicate a URL of a StreamEvent object. Alternatively, the targetURL parameter may be mapped to a schemeIdURl attribute of a DASH EventStream element.

The eventName parameter may indicate a name of an event, subscription of which needs to be deleted. Alternatively, the eventName parameter may be mapped to a value attribute of the DASH EventStream element.

The Listener parameter may indicate a listener for an event. The Listener parameter may correspond to a callback function. When the event occurs, the Listener parameter may be called out as a parameter together with a delivered StreamEvent object.

The targetURL parameter and the eventName parameter may correspond to event identifiers for identifying an event. For example, removeStreamEventListener API may include an event identifier (eventId) parameter and a listener parameter. For example, removeStreamEventListener API may have a form of removeTriggerEventListener(String eventId, EventListener listener). The event identifier may correspond to an identifier (for example, an EventID attribute or an id attribute) of an event present in an event element in the EMT. In addition, the event identifier may correspond to an identifier (for example, an id field of an emsg box) of an event dynamically updated by a trigger.

The broadcast receiver according to the present embodiment may add a listener for an event based on addStreamEventListener API. In addition, the broadcast receiver may add a listener for an event based on removeStreamEventListener API. AddStreamEventListener API and/or removeStreamEventListener API may support synchronization of html application actions for broadcast programming.

FIG. 54 is a diagram illustrating a hierarchical signaling structure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Prior to description of a hierarchical signaling structure of a broadcast system according to the present invention, terms used in the present invention may be defined as follows.

The 3GPP represents a 3^(rd) Generation Partnership Project.

The ALC represents Asynchronous Layered Coding. For details of a related protocol, reference can be made to the document RFC 5775 such as layered coding transport (LCT).

The Broadband Stream may correspond to an RF channel. The RF channel may be defined as a center carrier frequency of a specific bandwidth.

The DASH represents Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP. For the above details, reference can be made to content of the document ISO/IEC 23009-1.

The eMBMS represents an evolved Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service. The eMBMS may be technology for describing content of a cellular mobile broadcast of a service through an LTE network.

The FIT represents a Fast Information Table. The FIT may generate a basic service list and include information for bootstrapping discovery of a ROUTE session for transmitting an SLS and an LCT channel.

The LCT represents a Layered Coding Transport. The LCT may be building block technology defined in the document RFC 5651 and provide support of a stream transport protocol and a transport level for supporting reliable content transmission.

The LLS represents Link Layer Signaling. The LLS may correspond to signaling information that is transmitted by a payload of a packet of a second layer prior to a third layer (e.g., an IP layer).

The MMTP represents MPEG Multimedia Transport. For details of the MMTP, reference can be made to the document ISO/IEC 23008-1.

The MPD represents Media Presentation Description. The MPD may include formulated details of DASH media presentation for providing a streaming service. The MPD may be included in a fragment of SLS in order to transmit a streaming service.

The MPU represents a Media Processing Unit. For details of the MPU, reference can be made to the document ISO/IEC 23008-1.

The PLP represents a Physical Layer Pipe. The PLP may be a portion of transmission capacity provided by a broadcast stream, for transmitting service meta data such as service signaling and/or a content component of an ATSC3.0 service and may correspond to a combination of data items associated by a specific modulation and coding parameter.

The ROUTE represents Real-Time Object delivery Over Unidirectional Transport. The ROUTE may define technology for allowing real-time streaming for service providing via file-based transmission.

The SLS represents Service Layer Signaling. The SLS may include information required to discover and acquire an ATSC3.0 service and content components thereof. The SLS data may be transmitted by a third layer (e.g., an IP packet).

The S-TSID represents Service-based Transport Session Instance Description. The S-TSID may correspond to a fragment of SLS metadata that is defined in the form of XML. The S-TSID may include session description information for transmission sessions for transmitting content components included in the ATSC service. The S-TSID may include description information of transmission of an object and/or object flow transmitted through an associated transmission session, or for the S-TSID, reference can be made to the description information.

The TOI represents Transmission Object Identifier. The TOI may be transmitted by an LCT header and may correspond to a unique identifier of a transport object transmitted in an ALC/LCT session.

The TSI represents Transmission Session Identifier. The TSI may be an identifier of an ALC/LCT transmission session within a range of an IP address of a sender and a TSI value.

The USBD/USD represents User Service Bundle Description/User Service Description. The USBD may correspond to an SLS metadata fragment in the form of XML. The USBD may function as an entry point for access to a fragment (e.g., S-TSID, MPD, and/or MMTP) included in another SLS. That is, the USBD may include information required to access to a fragment included in the SLS. The USBD may identify an ATSC3.0 service and include basic information about a service, such as a service name or a service language. Each USBD may include information about one service represented by userServiceDescription (USD).

The XML Diff represents a difference between two XML files. The XML Diff may be generated by a sender and may correspond to XML signaling template and/or XML signaling instance which are transmitted to a receiver. The receiver may apply XML Diff to a local copy of a template owned by the receiver in order to acquire the signaling instance. The XML Diff mechanism may be a method for replacing a compression tool (e.g., Gzip) for compression of SLS data transmitted via a broadcast network and may be provided by a broadcast system.

A hierarchical signaling structure of a broadcast system according to the present embodiment may support streaming of two or more different service transmission methods. That is, the proposed hierarchical signaling structure may provide integrated signaling for service transmission of DASH through ROUTE and service transmission of MPU through MMTP.

As described above, Low Level Signaling and Service Level Signaling may be differentiated. The Low Level Signaling may be transmitted as Link Layer Signaling. The Low Level Signaling may include the aforementioned FIT (or SLT).

The SLS may be transmitted through a broadcast network and in this case, may be processed according to a protocol of ROUTE/UDP/IP. In addition, the SLS may be transmitted through a broadband network and in this case, may be processed according to a protocol of HTTP(s)/TCP/IP.

The SLS may include USBD and/or S-TSID as a signaling structure (or fragment) including information for signaling for a general service.

The SLS may include MPD as a signaling structure (or fragment) including signaling information required for content streaming.

The SLS may further include a signaling structure (or fragment) for providing a service (content or event) that is operated based on an application.

Referring to the drawing, when a service is provided based on ROUTE through a broadcast network, a receiver may approach the SLS using information of the LLS and acquire DASH representation (or component) for a service using information in an MPD included in the SLS.

When a service is provided based on the MMT through a broadcast network, the receiver may approach the SLS using information of the LLS, acquire an MMT signaling message using information of the SLS, and acquire a packet for transmitting an MMT asset (component) for a service using information in the MMT signaling message.

When a hierarchical signaling structure according to the present invention is used, integrated signaling for ROUTE/DASH and MMTP/MPU streamlining transmission can be provided.

When a hierarchical signaling structure is used, integrated signaling for hybrid service transmission through a broadcast network and a broadband can be provided.

When a hierarchical signaling structure is used, the standard of 3DPP eMBMS that is conventionally used and next-generation broadcast standard may be connected to each other so as to acquire connectivity between heterogeneous devices.

When a hierarchical signaling structure is used, entire signaling data can be effectively transmitted/received.

When a hierarchical signaling structure is used, a receiving side may acquire a desired fragment via simple filtering with respect to broadcast signaling.

In addition, when a hierarchical signaling structure is used, two or more compression options for signaling data can be freely used (Gzip and/or XML Diff).

FIG. 55 is a diagram illustrating a transmission path of an FIT according to an embodiment of the present invention.

A broadcast receiver may access a service from an FIT (or SLT) from a starting point in broadcast emission. The FIT may include the aforementioned information items and provide information required to rapidly scan channels in order to write a list of services that the receiver can receive. In addition, the FIT may include information (bootstrap information) required for access to the SLS by the receiver. As described above, the bootstrap information may include source IP address information of a packet for transmitting the SLS, destination IP address information, destination port information, TSI information of an LCT session for transmitting the SLS, and/or ID information of a PLP for transmitting the SLS. However, the PLP_ID information as information for identifying the PLP for transmitting the SLS may be included in the aforementioned first layer signaling (that is, physical layer signaling or L1 signaling).

The FIT may include ID information for identifying one broadcast stream, and the ID information for identifying the broadcast stream may be used as information for identifying a broadcaster. That is, the FIT may be separately provided per broadcaster.

The FIT may include a service loop including information for each of services provided through a broadcast stream identified by each ID information item.

The service loop may include service ID information for uniquely identifying a service in a range of a broadcast region, short name information indicating a short name of a service, provider ID information (e.g., information for identifying a broadcaster that uses a portion of a broadcast stream when the broadcast stream is shared by a plurality of broadcaster) for identifying a provider of each service, and/or bootstrap information as information for acquiring the SLS for each service.

Details of the above information items included in the FIT are replaced by the above or following description.

Referring to the drawing, (1) the FIT may be included in a PLP for transmitting components included in a service and transmitted, (2) a dedicated channel for transmitting an FIT in a physical layer may be defined and the FIT may be transmitted through a corresponding channel, or (3) main data such as an FIT and a PLP for signaling transmission may be defined, a method for identifying a corresponding PLP may be prepared, and the FIT may be transmitted to the corresponding PLP.

FIG. 56 is a diagram illustrating a process for bootstrapping an SLS using an FIT according to an embodiment of the present invention.

A receiver may acquire an FIT that is transmitted through an RF channel (physical layer signal) using the aforementioned method. The drawing illustrates the case in which an LLS (FIT) is transmitted through a dedicated channel in a broadcast signal.

The receiver may search for a region of a broadcast signal, to which an SLS for a service that the receiver wants to access, using Service ID information, Service Category information, SLS source IP address information, SLS destination IP address information, SLS destination port number information, SLS PLP ID information, and/or SLS TSI information, which are included in the FIT. The SLS may be transmitted in a ROUTE session. That is, the receiver may access a specific region in the ROUTE session for transmitting the SLS and acquire the SLS using the above information included in the FIT.

The receiver may acquire data and signaling information for presentation of a service using USBD, MPD, and/or S-TSID included in the acquired SLS.

The SLS may be defined per service level and may include information for describing access to a service and attribute of the service. For example, the information included in the SLS may include information for listing content components included in the service, information required to acquire corresponding components, and information for identifying capability required by a receiver in order to present a corresponding component or service.

The SLS may be defined in the form of XML. A dedicated LCT session may be defined for transmission of the SLS.

The SLS may further include a fragment including signaling information required to provide an application-based service in addition to a USBD fragment, an MPD fragment, and an S-TSID fragment. As described above, the SLS may provide transmission session description information including information for access to a ROUTE session and/or an MMTP session.

FIG. 57 is a diagram illustrating extension of 3DPP MBMS signaling for a broadcast system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In a signaling structure for the broadcast system, an SLS may include a USBD fragment and the USBD fragment may be used in the form defined in the 3GPP MBMS. In this case, in the USBD defined in the 3GPP MBMS, signaling information required for the broadcast system needs to be added.

The information to be added to the USBD for the broadcast system may include @atsc:serviceId information, @atsc:sTsidUri information, @atsc:fullMpdUri information, <atsc:capabilityCode> element, <atsc:broadcastAppService> element, <basePattern> element, <atsc:unicastAppService> element, and/or <basePattern> element.

The @atsc:serviceId information may be information for identifying a broadcast service.

The @atsc:sTsidUri information may be information for connection with S-TSID in the USBD. The @atsc:sTsidUri information may be URI information for a region to which the S-TSID is transmitted.

The @atsc:fullMpdUri information may be information for connection with MPD in the USBD. The @atsc:fullMpdUri information may be URI information for a region to which the MPD is transmitted.

The <atsc:capabilityCode> element may include information for identifying capability required by a receiver in order to significantly present a service or a component by the receiver.

The <atsc:broadcastAppService> element may include signaling information for an application-based service, transmitted through a broadcast network, and the <basePattern> element included below the <atsc:broadcastAppService> element represents a base pattern of URI required to acquire a corresponding application-based service.

The <atsc:unicastAppService> element may include signaling information for an application-based service transmitted through a unicast network, and the <basePattern> element included below the <atsc:unicastAppService> element may represent a base pattern of URI required to acquire a corresponding application-based service.

The @atsc:serviceId information may have 16 bits and may be used for link with a service ID included in the FIT.

The USD may include service level description that cannot be included in the FIT. Since the FIT has limited capacity, the FIT cannot unlimitedly include signaling information of a service level, and thus the signaling information of a service level that cannot be included in the FIT may be included in the USD. The information may include information indicating service names represented by different languages, information (or a method for transmitting a component may be determined by a basePatten element used as a matching pattern corresponding to a segment URL requested by a DASH client) for identifying whether each service component is transmitted through a broadcast network or a broadband network, information identifying performed required by a receiver, content advisory related information, caption description information, and/or information that needs to be extended for an ATSC3.0 broadcast system.

The S-TSID may include entire session description of transmission session(s) for transmitting a content component of an ATSC service.

In order to transmit a linear service that does not include application-based enhancement through a broadcast network, the S-TSID may include information (when service components are transmitted through ROUTE) for describing an LCT session and/or information (when service components are transmitted through MMTP) for describing an MMTP session. The application-based enhancement may be provided alone as an event, content, and/or a service which are provided based on an application or may be used together with a linear service for providing an additional service/content/event for the linear service

When service components are streamed through ROUTE, the S-TSID may include file metadata for transmitting an object or object flow transmitted by an LCT session of a service, and/or additional information for content components transmitted by LCT sessions and a payload format.

The SLS may be transmitted through an ALC/LCT session of a ROUTE session. A fragment (service signaling fragment) included in the SLS may be encapsulated in the form of metadata envelope defined in the 3GPP MBMS, and this form may include identifying information, version information, update information, and/or compression information about a fragment. The receiver may use a filtering scheme that employs an LCT packet including a filtering parameter for an effective packet combination.

The service signaling fragment may be compressed using a Gzip and/or template/Diff-based compression method. When the template/Diff-based compression method is used, as described above, the size of signaling may be reduced, and change such as partial update of signaling may be made, thereby obtaining efficiency in terms of data transmission and data processing of the receiver.

When the service signaling fragment is compressed using the template/Diff-based compression method, the signaling template may be pre-shared by a transmitting end and a receiver end. In this case, the transmitting end may compare signaling instance that needs to be transmitted with a template to generate Diff. The transmitting end may transmit the Diff to a client. The receiving end may apply the Diff to the template to acquire signaling instance. In this manner, when a difference between the template and a complete fragment is very small, a broadcast system may be effectively operated in terms of data transmission and data processing compared with a compression method such as Gzip.

FIG. 58 is a diagram illustrating a protocol stack of a broadcast system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

An ATSC3.0 service may be transmitted using three functional layers. These may include a physical layer, a delivery layer, and a service management layer. The physical layer may provide a mechanism for transmitting signaling transmitted through a broadcast physical layer and/or a broadband physical layer, service announcement, and IP packets. The delivery layer may provide object and object flow transmitting functionality. That is, in the delivery layer, the ROUTE protocol, operating on a UDP/IP multicast over the broadcast physical layer may be performed, and the HTTP protocol on a TCP/IP unicast over the broadband physical layer may be performed. The service management layer enables any type of service, such as linear TV or HTML5 application service, to be carried by the underlying delivery and physical layers.

The service signaling provides information for service discovery and description. The service signaling may include two functional components. One of the two functional components may be bootstrap signaling (FIT—Fast Information Table or SLT—Service List Table) and the other one may be service layer signaling (SLS). The service signaling may be information items required to discover and acquire user services. The FIT may enable the receiver to generate a basic service list and to perform bootstrapping for discovery of the SLS for each ATSC3.0 service. The FIT may be transmitted from a link layer or an upper layer thereof and transmitted per frame of a physical layer for rapid acquisition. The SLS may enable a receiver to discover and access ATSC3.0 services and content components thereof. When the SLS is transmitted through a broadcast network, the SLS may be transmitted through ROUTE/UDP/IP included in one of LCT transmission sessions including a ROUTE session at a carousel rate that is appropriate to support rapid channel subscription and switching. When the SLS is transmitted through a broadcast network, the SLS may be transmitted through HTTP(s)/TCP/IP.

FIG. 59 is a diagram illustrating a relationship of a service management layer, a delivery layer, and physical layer entities according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In a broadcast system according to the present invention, in order to transmit content components of an ATSC3.0 service, a ROUTE/LCT session and/or MMTP sessions may be present.

In order to transmit a linear service that does not include application-based enhancement, content components included in the service may be transmitted through one or more ROUTE/LCT sessions or one or more MMTP sessions.

In order to transmit a linear service that includes application-based enhancement, content components of the service may be transmitted through one or more ROUTE/LCT sessions or zero or more MMTP sessions. That is, in this case, some of content components constituting one service may be transmitted through a ROUTE/LCT session and other some of the content components may be transmitted though a MMTP session. For example, content components included in application-based enhancement can be transmitted only through ROUTE, and thus when even a service that basically applies MMTP includes application-based enhancement, ROUTE may need to be used in order to transmit some components. However, for streaming of a media component in the same service, it may not be permitted that both the MMTP and the ROUTE are used.

In order to transmit an application service through a broadcast network, content components included in the service may be transmitted through one or more ROUTE/LCT sessions.

Each ROUTE session may include one or more LCT sessions for transmitting some or all of content components constituting an ATSC3.0 service. In transmission of a streaming service, one LCT session may transmit one separate component of a user service such as audio, video, or closed caption stream. The streaming media may be formatted and transmitted n the form of DASH segments of MPEG DASH.

Each MMTP session may transmit all or some of content components or may include one or more MMTP packet flows for transmitting an MMTP signaling message. One MMTP packet flow may transmit a component or MMT signaling message in the form of MPU of MMT. In order to transmit an NRT user service or system metadata, an LCT session may transmit a file-based content item. Files included in the contents may include a media component of a continuous or time-based or discrete or non-time-based NRT service or may include metadata such as service signaling or ESG fragment.

A broadcast stream may be concept for an RF channel and may be defined as a term of a center carrier frequency in a specific bandwidth. The broadcast stream may be identified by a geographic area and a frequency. Together with a pair of a geographic area and frequency information, a broadcast stream ID (BSID) of the pair may be defined and managed by administrative power. The PLP may correspond to a portion of the RF channel. Each PLP may have a specific modulation and coding parameter. The PLP may be identified by a unique PLP identifier (PLP ID) in a broadcast stream to which the PLP belongs.

Each service may be identified by two types of service identifiers. One of the service identifiers may be a compact type service identifier that is used in a FIT and is unique only in a broadcast stream, and the other one may be a unique type service identifier that is used in SLS and ESG and is unique around the world. One ROUTE session may be identified by a source IP address, a destination IP address, and a destination port number. One LCT session (which is related to a service component for transmitting the LCT session) may be identified by a unique transport session identifier (TSI) within a range of a ROUTE session to which the LCT session belongs.

Common features to LCT sessions and unique specific features to the respective LCT sessions may be given in a ROUTE signaling structure that is referred to as service-based transport session instance description (S-TSID). The S-TSID is a portion of service level signaling. Each LCT session may be transmitted through one PLP. Different LCT sessions of one ROUTE session may or may not be included in different PLPs. Features described in the S-TSID may include a TSI value, a PLP ID for each LCT session, a descriptor for transmitting an object/file, and/or an application layer FEC parameter.

One MMTP session may be identified by a destination IP address and a destination port number. One MMTP packet flow (which is related to service components for transmitting the MMTP packet flow) may be identified by a unique packet_id in a range of a MMTP session including the MMTP packet flow. Common features to the MMTP packet flows and specific feature of each MMTP packet flow may be given by the S-TSID. Features for the respective MMTP sessions may be given by a MMT signaling message transmitted in the MMTP session. Each MMTP packet flow may be transmitted through one PLP. Different MMTP packet flows of one MMTP session may or may not be transmitted through different PLPs. Features described in the MMT signaling message may include a packet_id value and/or a PLP ID for each MMTP packet flow.

Information for identifying a PLP that is described as being included in the service level signaling or an FIT (or SLT) may be defined in signaling of a link layer. In this case, upon acquiring signaling transmitted to a link layer, a receiver may identify or access an FIT (or SLT), service level signaling, or a PLP related to a component.

FIG. 60 is a diagram illustrating a signaling structure of a broadcast system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Signaling information transmitted through a payload of a packet of a link layer (or an upper layer thereof) or content of a dedicated channel may be referred to as link layer signaling (LLS) or low level signaling (LLS). The aforementioned FIT (or which may be referred to as a service list table (SLT)) may be classified as an LLS. The FIT may be similar to a program association table (PAT) defined in the MPEG-2 system or a fast information channel (FIC) defined in the ATSC-MH in terms of a function. Upon receiving a transmitted broadcast stream, a receiver may process data or a service from an FIT as a starting point. The FIT may support the receiver to rapidly scan channels. That is, the FIT may include information required to generate a list of all services that can be received by the receiver. The information may include information such as a channel name and/or a channel number. In addition, the FIT may include bootstrap information such that the receiver discovers an SLS for each service. The bootstrap information may include TSI information of an LCT session for transmitting an SLS, a source IP address of a ROUTE session, a destination IP address, and/or destination poet number information.

An SLS for each service may describe attributes of services. For example, the SLS may include a list of components included in a service, information about where a corresponding component is acquired, and/or information about capability required by a receiver in order to significantly present a corresponding service. In a ROUTE/DASH system, the SLS may include user service bundle description (USBD), S-TSID, and DASH media presentation description (MPD). The USBD may be based on a service description metadata fragment having the same term as a term defined in the 3GPP-MBMS, may have a form that is extended in a corresponding metadata fragment in order to support a function of an ATSC3.0 system, and may be defined to have compatibility with the 3GPP-MBMS in the future. Details of information included in the USBD may be replaced by the above or following description of the USBD (or USD).

The service signaling may focus on basic attribute of a service per se. In particular, the service signaling may focus on content about attributes required to acquire a service. An intended program for features and viewers of a service may be represented by, for example, service announcement or ESG data.

When there is separate for service signaling for each service, a receiver may be permitted to acquire an SLS appropriate for an interest serviced without parsing of all SLS transmitted in a broadcast stream.

The service signaling may also be transmitted through a broadband and in this case, the FIT may include a HTTP URL about a position in which a service signaling file (a file including service signaling).

When an even such as update occurs in SLS signaling, the corresponding event may be detected by an “SLS version” field included in the FIT. The updated signaling may be acquired by a broadcast network or a broadband network.

The drawing illustrates an embodiment in which an SLS is used in order to perform bootstrap for acquisition of the SLS using LLS and to acquire service components transmitted through a ROUTE/LCT transmission session. The receiver may begin to acquire an FIT transmitted by a physical layer frame in a determined frequency band identified by a broadcast stream ID (BSID). With respect to each service identified by Service_id, SLS bootstrapping information—PLPID(#1), source IP

(sIP1), destination IP address (dIP1), destination port number (dPort1), and TSI (tsi-SLS) may be provided. The receiver may acquire bootstraps transmitted through the PLP and the IP/UDP/LCT session. The fragments may include a USBD/USD fragment, an S-TSID fragment, and a MPD fragment. These may be fragments for transmitting metadata related to one service. The USBD/USD fragment may describe features of a service level and provide a URI for access to the S-TSID fragment and a URI for access to the MPD fragment. The S-TSID fragment may be related to one service and component acquiring information for providing mapping information between DASH representation included in the MPD and TSI corresponding to a component of the corresponding service. The S-TSID may provide component acquiring information in the form of an ID of a PLP for transmitting DASH segments related to DASH representation, TSI, and related DASH representation identifier. Using PLPID and TSI values, the receiver may collect audio/video components of a service, begin to buffer DASH media segments, and perform a proper decoding procedure.

A hierarchical signaling structure including two separated S-TSID fragments for providing access information for LCT sessions for transmitting contents of one separate service will be described later.

Service signaling may provide bootstrap and discovery information for a broadcast service that is currently “on-the-air”. The broadcast service that is currently “on-the-air” may correspond to, for example, a linear TV service. The ESG may include user service announcement indicating a list of contents and available ATSC3.0 user services together with detailed information including capability required for a device, content rating, and show schedule. The information may be required by an EGS client in the receiver in order to show services or content to a user for service or content selection or to determine whether related services or content are configured to be shown to the user. Connection between an ESG service and an SLS service may be performed by a service identifier. This may be, particularly, a key for identifying service attributes in the ESG as well as a key for identifying service attributes including transmission related attributes in signaling.

The link layer signaling may be operated under an IP level or less. A receiving end may more rapidly acquire link layer signaling than IP level signaling (e.g., service layer signaling). The link layer signaling may be acquired prior to establishment of a session.

One of purposes of link layer signaling may be effective transmission of information required to rapidly scan a channel and to acquire a service. The information may include information for mainly binding between ATSC3.0 service layer signaling and PLPs. The link layer signaling may further include signaling related to emergency alert. The link layer signaling may be encapsulated through a protocol of a link layer and may correspond to signaling to be acquired when the protocol of the link layer is performed.

The link layer signaling may also be referred to as low level signaling. Although the link layer signaling has been described as signaling to be acquired in a lower level than an IP level, when a dedicated channel for corresponding signaling is generated in a broadcast signal, the link layer signaling may be defined in a higher level of the IP level. In this case, the receiver may be pre-access link layer signaling compared with service layer signaling using an IP address and/or UDP port number allocated to a corresponding dedicated channel.

The service layer signaling (or which may be referred to as service level signaling) (SLS) may include USBD and S-TSID metadata fragment. These service signaling fragments may be applied to both a linear service and an application-based service. The USBD fragment may include a service identifier, device capability information, information for referring to other SLS fragments required to access a service and a media component included therein, and/or metadata formed to allow the receiver to determine a transmission mode (broadcast network transmission and/or broadband transmission) of servicer components. The S-TSID fragment referred to by the USBD may include a transmission session descriptor for one or more ROUTE/LCT sessions or MMTP sessions for transmitting media content components of one ATSC3.0 service and description of transmission objects transmitted by LCT sessions.

A component (fragment) for signaling streaming content in the SLS may correspond to an MPD fragment. The MPD may be general streaming content and may be related to a linear service for transmitting DASH segments. The MPD fragment may be used to support application-based services or needs to be associated with content components of a DASH format. The MPD may include information items required to control reproduction of contents. The MPD may provide a resource identifier for separate media components for a linear or streaming service in the form of a segment URL and provide context identified resources in media presentation.

The application-based enhancement signaling may include information for transmitting of application-based enhancement components such as an application logic file, an NRT media file, an on-demand content component, or a notification stream. An application may acquire NRT data via broadband connection.

A sequence of accurate wall clock references may be transmitted through a physical layer for synchronization between services, components, or events.

Service signaling of a service may be transmitted in an ALC/LCT session in a ROUTE session. The service signaling fragment may be encapsulated as a metadata envelope defined in the 3DPP MBMS. This type of encapsulation may enable identification, versioning, and updating of an included fragment. The metadata envelope and the included fragment may be compressed via Gzip. In addition, the receiver may use a template-based method.

The receiver may signal the type and version of a signaling fragment of a service layer signaling fragment and filter the signaling fragment. Prior to acquisition of all service layer signaling fragments from packets using this method, a target LCT packet for transmitting an expected type of service layer signaling fragment may be rapidly filtered. This method may be performed by defining a TOI structure of an LCT header, which will be described later.

FIG. 61 is a diagram illustrating an FIT according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the present invention, the FIT may be used as the term of FIC, SLT, low level signaling (LLS), or the like. In addition, the FIT may be defined as one signaling structure included in the LLS. In this case, some of information included in the FIT disclosed in the embodiment of the present invention may be included in the LLS. The LLS may correspond to signaling information transmitted through a payload of an IP packet having a well-known address/port in a broadcast system.

The illustrated FIT may correspond to a signaling structure for supporting broadcast service scan and acquisition in a receiver. To this end, FIT may include a sufficient amount of information that is significant to viewers and allows presentation of a service list for supporting service selection through channel number and/or up/down zapping. In addition, the FIT may include a sufficient amount of information for locating service layer signaling of a service through a broadcast network or a broadband network according to where signaling can be used.

In a specific frequency, broadcast services and/or content generated by one or more broadcasters may be transmitted. In this case, in order to allow the receiver to rapidly and easily scan a broadcaster present in a corresponding frequency and/or services and/or content of the corresponding broadcaster. In this process, required information may be signaled through the FIT.

When the signaling structure proposed according to the present invention is used, the receiver can scan a service and reduce velocity for acquisition of a service by the receiver. The illustrated FIT has been described as syntax but information included in the FIT may be represented in other formats such as XML.

In the present invention, a fast information table (FIT) may be transmitted through a fast information channel (FIC) as a separate channel in the physical layer transport frame. Alternatively, the FIT may be transmitted through a common DP or the like for transmitting information to be shared between data pipes of a physical layer. Alternatively, the information included in the FIT may be transmitted via a path for transmitting link layer signaling defined in a link layer or link layer signaling. Alternatively, the FIT may be transmitted through a service signaling channel for transmitting service signaling, a transport session of an application layer, or the like.

A FIT according to an embodiment of the present invention may include FIT_protocol_version information, Broadcast_stream_id information, FIT_section_number information, total_FIT_section_number information, FIT_section_version information, FIT_section_length information, num_services information, service_id information, SLS_data_version information, service_category information, short_service_name_length information, short_service_name_byte_pair( ) element, provider_id information, service_status information, sp_indicator information, num_service_level_descriptor information, service_level_descriptor( ) element, num_FIT_descriptor information, and/or FIT_level_descriptor( ) element.

The FIT_protocol_version information may be information indicating a version of an FIT structure.

The Broadcast_stream_id information may be information for identifying all broadcast streams.

The FIT_section_number information may be information indicating a number of this section. The FIT may include a plurality of FIT sections.

The total_FIT_section_number information may be information indicating the number of all FIT sections of a FIT including this section as a part. The information may be the same as FIT_section_number information with a highest value.

The FIT_section_version information may be information indicating a version number of a FIT section. A value of the information may be increased on 1-by-1 basis when information transmitted in the FIT section is changed. When a value of the information reaches a maximum value, the value of the information may return to 0.

The FIT_section_length information may be information indicating a byte number of an FIT section including information items subsequent to the information.

The num_services information may be information indicating the number of services described by an instance of a FIT. Services having at least one component may be included in each broadcast stream.

The service_id information may be information indicating a number for uniquely identifying a service within a range of a broadcast area.

A value of the SLS_data_version information may be increased at a time point when any one of signaling tables for a service transmitted through service layer signaling is changed or when a service entity for services in the FIT is changed. The information may allow a receiver to observe the FIT and to know change when signaling for a service is changed.

The service_category information may be information for identifying a category of a service. When a value of the information is ‘0x00’, the value may indicate that a category of the service cannot be identified by the information, when the value is ‘0x01’, the value may indicate that the service corresponds to an audio/video (A/V) service, when the value is ‘0x02’, the value may indicate that the service corresponds to an audio service, when the value is ‘0x03’, the value may indicate that the service is an application-based service, and when the value is ‘0x01’ and the value is ‘0x08’, the value may indicate that the service is a service guide (service announcement). Other values to be allocated to the information may be reserved for future use.

The provider_id information may be information may be information for identifying a provider for broadcasting a service.

The short_service_name_length information may be information indicating the number of bytes in the short_service_name_byte_pair( ) element. When a short name for a service is not provided, a value of the information may be 0.

The short_service_name_byte_pair( ) element may be information indicating a short name of the service. Each character may be encoded in the form of UTF-8. When an odd byte is present in the short name, a second byte of a last byte_pair may include 0x00 per pair count identified by the short_service_name_length information.

The service_status information may be information indicating a service state (active/inactive and/or hidden/shown). An uppermost bit of the service_status information may indicate whether a service is in an active state (the bit is set to 1) or the service is in an inactive state (the bit is set to 0). A lowermost bit of the service_status information may indicate may indicate whether a service is in a hidden state (the bit is set to 1) or is in a shown state (the bit is set to 0).

Upon being set to a predetermined value, the sp_indicator information may be information for identifying whether one or more components required to significant presentation are protected. When a value of the information is set to ‘0’, the information may indicate that there is no component to be applied to be protected among components required for significant presentation of a service.

The num_service_level_descriptor information may be information indicating the number of service level descriptors for a service.

The service_level_descriptor( ) element may include zero or more service level descriptor for providing additional information for a service.

The num_FIT_level_descriptor information may be information indicating the number of FIT level descriptors for an FIT.

The FIT_level_descriptor( ) element may include zero or more descriptors for providing additional information for an FIT.

FIG. 62 is a diagram illustrating a position of a descriptor to be included in signaling for a broadcast system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Zero or more descriptors for providing additional information for a service or an FIT may be included in a signaling structure.

The descriptor illustrated in the drawing may indicate a name and position of a descriptor to be contained in an FIT level descriptor or a service level descriptor in an FIT.

The FIT may include broadcast_signaling_location_descriptor( ), inet_signaling_location_descriptor( ), and/or capability_descriptor( )

The broadcast_signaling_location_descriptor( ) may be included in a region for signaling information about a position in which the service level descriptor of the FIT is included or a service.

The inet_signaling_location_descriptor( ) may be included in a position in which the service level descriptor of the FIT is contained or a position in which the FIT_level_descriptor is contained.

The capability_descriptor( ) may be included in a region for signaling information about a position in which the service level descriptor of the FIT is positioned or a service.

FIG. 63 is a diagram illustrating broadcast_signaling_location_descriptor( ) according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The broadcast_signaling_location_descriptor( ) may include information for bootstrapping an address of service layer signaling for each service, and a receiver may acquire an SLS transmitted through a broadcast network at a corresponding address.

The broadcast_signaling_location_descriptor( ) may include descriptor_tag information, descriptor_length information, IP_version_flag information, SLS_source IP_address_flag information, SLS_source_IP_address information, SLS_destination_IP_address information, SLS_destination_UDP_port information, SLS_TSI information, and/or SLS_PLP_ID information.

The descriptor_tag information may be information for identifying a descriptor.

The descriptor_length information may be information that is included in a descriptor and indicates a size (length) of information items subsequent to the information.

The IP_version_flag information may be information indicating a version of an IP used in an IP address transmitted in the present descriptor. When a value of the information is set to ‘0’, the SLS_source_IP_address information and the SLS_destination_IP_address information may indicate an IPv4 address, when a value of the information is set to ‘1’, the SLS_source_IP_address_information and the SLS_destination_IP_address information may indicate an IPv6 address.

The SLS_source_IP_address_flag information may be information for identifying whether the SLS_source_IP_address information is present.

The SLS_source_IP_address information may indicate a source IP address of packets for transmitting an SLS.

The SLS_destination_IP_address information may indicate a destination IP address of packets for transmitting an SLS.

The SLS_destination_UDP_port information may indicate a port number of a destination of packets for transmitting an SLS.

The SLS_TSI information may be information for identifying a transmission session for transmitting an SLS.

The SLS_PLP_id information may be information for identifying a position/region for transmitting an SLS. The SLS_PLP_id information may be information for identifying a PLP including an SLS. The SLS_PLP_id information may be included in link layer signaling and transmitted. In this case, depending on cases, the information may be contained in signaling transmitted in a link layer and may be transmitted.

FIG. 64 is a diagram illustrating the meaning of inet_signaling_location_descriptor( ) and URL_type information according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The inet_signaling_location_descriptor( ) may include a URL indicating a place for receiving a type of data, requested by an external server, through a broadband by a receiver. The receiver may use one URL included in the present descriptor as a query term for acquiring signaling description through a broadband.

The inet_signaling_location_descriptor( ) may include descriptor_tag information, descriptor_length information, provider_id information, URL_type information, and/or URL_bytes( ) information.

The descriptor_tag information may be information for identifying the descriptor.

The descriptor_length information may be information that is included in a descriptor and indicates a size (length) of information items subsequent to the information.

The provider_id information may be information for identifying a provider for broadcasting a service.

The URL_type information may be information indicating a type of a URL represented by URL_bytes( ). When a value of the information is “0x00”, the value may indicate that the represented URL is a URL of a signaling server for providing the signaling, and when a value of the information is “0x01”, the value may indicate that the represented URL is a URL of an ESG server for providing the ESG data.

The URL_bytes( ) information may indicate a uniform resource location (URL), and each character included in the URL may encoded using a UTF-8 method. The URL may be used as a query term, and a base URL may be extended by a query term in order to indicate a resource.

When resources can be used through a broadband network, the inet_signaling_location_descriptor( ) may provide URL information about the resources.

FIG. 65 is a diagram illustrating a query term using URL_bytes information of inet_signaling_location_descriptor( ) according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The inet_signaling_location_descriptor( ) may be positioned in an FIT level, and a URL may be used as a query term indicating a type of a resource requested by the URL. When a type of a resource corresponds to an SLS, a URL indicating where a receiver acquires an SLS through a broadband for all services described in an FIT may be included in the inet_signaling_location_descriptor( ). In this case, optionally, (svc) string may be used, and the (svc) string can be added to a last portion of the query term to request an SLS for a specific service by a receiver. A reply to the query term may have an SLS fragment encapsulated as a multi part.

When a type of a resource is an ESG, a URL indicating where a receiver acquires ESG through a broadband for all providers described in the FIT may be included in inet_signaling_location_descriptor( ). In this case, optionally, (pry) string may be used, and the (prv) string can be added to a last portion of the query term to request an ESG for a specific provider by a receiver.

The inet_signaling_location_descriptor( ) may be transmitted through a loop for a service level descriptor, and in this case, the inet_signaling_location_descriptor( ) may indicate a URL of a position in which service layer signaling included in a service is acquired through a broadband. When the service_category information indicates that a category of a service indicates an A/V service, the URL may be used as a query term indicating desired signaling description. When a broadcaster provides different SLS URLs for respective services, this query term may be used, and in this case, a query term of adding the (svc) string may not be used. A reply to the query term may have an SLS fragment encapsulated as a multi part.

An upper portion of the drawing illustrates an embodiment of a query term using URL_bytes information when the inet_signaling_location_descriptor( ) is positioned in an FIT level, and a lower portion of the drawing illustrates an embodiment of a query term using URL_bytes information when the inet_signaling_location_descriptor( ) is positioned in a service level.

The query term according to an embodiment of the present invention may be used as SLS Set—a query for requesting all SLSs, SLS Diff—a query for requesting Diff data of an SLS, SLS Template—a query for requesting SLS template, USD—a query for requesting USD, S-TSID—a query for requesting S-TSID, and/or ESG—a query for requesting ESG.

FIG. 66 is a diagram illustrating capability_descriptor( ) according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The capability_descriptor( ) may provide a list of “capabilities” (e.g., a download protocol, an FEC algorithm, a wrapper/archive format, an compression algorithm, and a media type) used for one service. A receiver may parse and process capability_descriptor( ), and when required capability identified by information in the capability_descriptor( ) cannot be supported, requirement for a corresponding service may be avoided.

The capability_descriptor( ) may include descriptor_tag information, descriptor_length information, and/or capabilities_bytes( ) element.

The descriptor_tag information may be information for identifying the descriptor.

The descriptor_length information may be information that is included in the descriptor and indicates a size (length) of information items subsequent to the information.

The capabilities_bytes( ) element may indicate information about capability of a string type. Information items to be contained in the aforementioned capability_descriptor may be included in the capabilities_bytes( ) element.

FIG. 67 is a diagram illustrating an FIT defied in XML according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The FIT defined in XML may include @bsid information, @fitSectionNumber information, @totalFitSectionNumber information, @fitSectionVersion information, Service element, @serviceId information, @providerId information, @serviceCategory information, @spIndicator information, @serviceStatus information, @shortServiceName information, @SLSVersion information, capabilityCode element, inetSignalingLocation element, @urlType information, @url information, broadcastSignalingLocation element, @IPVersion information, @sourceIPAddress information, @destinationIPAddress information, @destinationUdpPort information, @TSI information, @PLPID information, inetSignalingLocation element, @providerId information, @urlType information, and/or @url information.

The @bsid information may be information for identifying a broadcast stream.

The @fitSectionNumber information may be information indicating a number of the section. The FIT may include a plurality of FIT sections.

The @totalFitSectionNumber information may be information indicating the number of all FIT sections of an FIT that includes the section as a part. The information may be the same as the FIT_section_number information with a highest value.

The @fitSectionVersion information may be information indicating a version number of an FIT section. A value of the information may be increased on 1-by-1 basis when information transmitted in the FIT section is changed. When a value of the information reaches a maximum value, the value of the information may return to 0.

The service element may be an ATSC3.0 service entry. The service element may include information related to an ATSC3.0 service.

The @serviceId information may be information indicating a number for uniquely identifying a service within a range of a broadcast area.

The @providerId information may be information for identifying a provider for broadcasting a service.

The @serviceCategory information may be information for identifying a category of a service. When a value of the information is ‘0x00’, the value may indicate that a category of a service is not identified by the information, when the value is ‘0x01’, the value may indicate that a service corresponds to an audio/video (AN) service, when the value is ‘0x02’, the value may indicate that a service corresponds to an audio service, when the value is ‘0x03’, the value may indicate that a service corresponds to an application-based service, and when the value is ‘0x01’ and the value is ‘0x08’, the value may indicate that a service is a service guide (service announcement). Other values to be allocated to the information may be reserved for future use.

Upon being set to a predetermined value, the @spIndicator information may be information for identifying whether one or more components required for significant presentation are protected. When a value of the information is set to ‘0’, the information may indicate that there is no component to be applied to be protected among components required for significant presentation of a service.

The @serviceStatus information may be information indicating a state (active/inactive and/or hidden/shown) of a service. The information may indicate whether a service is active (when a value is set to ‘1’), inactive (when a value is set to ‘0’), hidden (when a value is set to ‘3’), or shown (when a value is set to ‘2’).

The @shortServiceName information may be information indicating a short name of a service.

A value of the @SLSVersion information may be increased at a time point when any one of signaling tables for a service transmitted through service layer signaling is changed or when a service entity for services in the FIT is changed. The information may allow a receiver to observe the FIT and to know change when signaling for a service is changed.

The capabilityCode element may include information indicating a capability group and capability required by a receiver in order to generate significant presentation of content of an ATSC3.0 service. The present element may include some or all of information to be contained in the aforementioned capability_descriptor.

The inetSignalingLocation element may include a URL indicating a place for receiving a type of data, requested by an external server, through a broadband by a receiver. The inetSignalingLocation element may include some or all of information items included in the aforementioned inet_signaling_location_descriptor( ).

The @urlType information may be information indicating a type of a URL. When a value of the information is “0x00”, a represented URL is a URL of a signaling server for providing the signaling, and when the value of the information is “0x01”, the represented URL is a URL of an ESG server for providing the ESG data.

The @url information may be information indicating a URL of a position in which service layer signaling belonging to a service can be acquired. When a category of a service is not an ESG service, a URL may be used as a query term for indicating a desired signaling fragment. When a broadcaster provides different SLS URLs for respective services, a corresponding URL may be used and (svc) string may not be used in a query term. A base URL may indicate desired resources and may be extended by one or more query terms, an embodiment of which is the same as the above description. When a category of a service is an ESG service, the URL may indicate an Internet server for acquiring an ESG.

The broadcastSignalingLocation element may include information for bootstrapping an address of service layer signaling for each service, and a receiver may acquire an SLS transmitted through a broadcast network at a corresponding address.

The @IPVersion information may be information indicating a version of an IP used in an IP address. According to setting of a version of the information, the information may indicate whether the SLS_source_IP_address information and the SLS_destination_IP_address information are an IPv4 address or an IPv6 address.

The @sourceIPAddress information may indicate source IP addresses of packets for transmitting an SLS.

The @destinationIPAddress information may indicate a destination IP address of packets for transmitting an SLS.

The @destinationUdpPort information may indicate a port number of a destination of packets for transmitting an SLS.

The @TSI information may be information for identifying a transmission session for transmitting an SLS.

The @PLPID information may be information for identifying a position/region for transmission an SLS. The @PLPID information may be information for identifying a PLP including an SLS. The @PLPID information may be included in link layer signaling and may be transmitted. As necessary, the information may be included in signaling transmitted in a link layer and may be transmitted.

The inetSignalingLocation element may include a URL indicating a place for receiving a type of data, requested by an external server, through a broadband by a receiver. The inetSignalingLocation element may include some or all of information items included in the aforementioned inet_signaling_location_descriptor( ).

The @providerId information may be information for identifying a provider for broadcasting the service.

The @urlType information may be information indicating a type of a URL. When a value of the information is “0x00”, the value may indicate that a represented URL is a URL of a signaling server for providing the signaling, and when a value of the information is “0x01”, a represented URL is a URL of an ESG server for providing the ESG data.

The @url information may be information indicating URL of a position in which service layer signaling belonging to a service can be acquired. Details of the @url information may be the same as details of the URL_bytes information of the inet_signaling_location_descriptor( ).

LLS according to an embodiment of the present invention may include emergency alert description (EAD) and rating region description (RRD).

EAD may be referred to as an emergency alert table (EAT) and may include information for emergency alert.

RRD may be referred to as a rating region table (RRT) and may include information related to view restriction.

FIG. 68 is a diagram illustrating a data model for a linear service according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Service layer signaling (SLS) may provide technical information required to discover and access an ATSC3.0 user service and content components thereof by a receiver. The service layer signaling may include a set of metadata fragments coded in the form of XML, which can be transmitted through a dedicated LCT session. The LCT session for transmitting an SLS may be acquired using bootstrapping information included in the FIT as described above. The SLS may be defined per service level and may describe access information and attribute for a service, such as information about a list of content components of a service and how the components are acquired. In addition, the SLS may include information about receiver capability required to generate significant presentation of a service. In a ROUTE/DASH system, for linear service transmission, the SLS may include a USBD, an S-TSID, and/or a MPD. SLS fragments may be transmitted through a dedicated LCT transmission session having a pre-known TSI value.

Referring to the drawing, the USBD may include USD and the USD may include fullMPDUri information as information for acquiring an MPD. A receiver may acquire an MPD using the fullMPDUri information. The USD may include information for connection of S-TSID related to a specific service, and the receiver may acquire information of the corresponding S-TSID in order to present a specific service using the information.

FIG. 69 is a diagram illustrating USBD according to an embodiment of the present invention.

User Service Bundle Description (USBD) may be an entry point or uppermost level fragment of an SLS fragment. The USBD may be conformable to basic content of the USD defined in the 3GPP MBMS and may include the following extension for an ATSC3.0 service.

The USBD may be a child element and may include atsc:serviced information, atsc:fullMPDUri information, atsc:sTSIDUri information, and/or atsc:capabilityCode information below the userServiceDescription element.

The USBD may include atsc:broadcastAppService information as a child element, and broadcast stream ID (BSID) and basePattern element as child attribute thereof, below the deliveryMethod element.

The USBD may include atsc:unicastcastAppServiceand information as a child element and/or basePattern element as a child element thereof below the deliveryMethod element.

The USBD may have a bundleDescription ROUTE element. The bundleDescription ROUTE element may have a userServiceDescription element. The userServiceDescription element may be instance for one service.

The userServiceDescription element may include @serviceId, @atsc:serviceId, @atsc:fullMPDUri, @atsc:sTSIDUri, name, serviceLanguage, atsc:capabilityCode, and/or deliveryMethod.

The @serviceId may be a unique service around the world.

The @atsc:serviced may be a reference of a corresponding service entry in the LLS (FIT or SLT). A value of corresponding attribute may be the same as a value of serviced allocated to a corresponding entry defined in the LLS.

The @atsc:fullMPDUri may be information for referencing (or connecting) an MPD fragment including description of a content component of a service that is optionally transmitted in broadcast and is transmitted in a broadband.

The @atsc:sTSIDUri may be information for referencing (or connecting) a S-TSID fragment for providing an access related parameter to a transmission session for transmitting content of a corresponding service.

The name may be a name of a service given according to lang attribute. The name element may include lang attribute indicating a language indicating a service name. A language may be specified according to a type of XML data.

The serviceLanguage may indicate an available language of a service. The language may be specified according to a type of an XML data.

The atsc:capabilityCode may specify capability required to generate meaningful presentation of content of a corresponding service by a receiver. In some embodiments, the present field may specify a predefined capability group. Here, the capability group may be a group of values of capability attributes for meaningful presentation. In some embodiments, the present field may be omitted.

The deliveryMethod may be a container of transport related to information belonging to content of a service in a broadcast and (optionally) broadband mode of access. With regard to data contained in the corresponding service, when the number of the data is N, delivery methods for the respective data may be described by the element. The deliveryMethod element may include an atsc:broadcastAppService element and an atsc:unicastAppService element. Lower elements may have basePattern elements as lower elements, respectively.

The atsc:broadcastAppService may be DASH representation transmitted on a multiplexed or de-multiplexed type of broadcast including a corresponding media component belonging to a service over all time periods of contained media presentation. That is, each of the present fields may refer to DASH representation transmitted through a broadcast network.

The atsc:unicastAppService may be DASH representation transmitted on a multiplexed or de-multiplexed type of broadband including a configuration media content component belonging to a service over all time periods of contained media presentation. That is, each of the present fields may refer to DASH representation transmitted through a broadband.

The basePattern may be a character pattern that is used by a receiver for match with all portions of a segment URL used by a DASH client in order to require media segment of parent representation in a contained period. The match may suggest that corresponding required media segment is transmitted on broadcast transport. According to a URL address for receiving DASH representation represented by each of the atsc:broadcastAppService element and the atsc:unicastAppService element, a portion of the URL may have a specific pattern and the pattern may be described according to the present field. Data of a predetermined portion can be segmented through the information. Proposed default values may be changed in some embodiments. The illustrated use columns may be related to respective fields, M may refer to a required field, O is an optional field, OD may refer to an optional field having a default value, and CM may refer to a conditional required field. 0 . . . 1 to 0 . . . N may refer to available numbers of corresponding fields, respectively.

FIG. 70 is a diagram illustrating S-TSID according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The S-TSID may be SLS XML fragment for providing overall session described information about a transmission session for transmitting a content component of a service. The S-TSID may be SLS metadata segment including overall transmission session described information about a configuration LCT session and zero or more ROUTE sessions for transmitting a media content component of a service. The S-TSID may include file metadata about a delivery object or object flow transmitted in an LCT session of a service as well as additional information about a content component transmitted in an LCT session and a payload format.

Each case of S-TSID fragments may be referenced in a USBD fragment according to @atsc:sTSIDUri attribute of the userServiceDescription element. The S-TSID may be represented in the form of a binary format or XML document.

The illustrated S-TSID may have an S-TSID root element. The S-TSID root element may include @serviceId, RS, and/or MS.

The @serviceID may be reference corresponding to a service element in LLS (FIT). A value of corresponding attribute may reference a service having a corresponding value of the service_id in the FIT. The information may be present when an MMTP session is used in order to transmit broadcast of a linear service that does not use a ROUTE session and does not use a USD.

The RS element may have information about a ROUTE session for transmitting corresponding service data items. Since service data and service components can be transmitted through a plurality of ROUTE sessions, the present element may have numbers of 1 to N.

The RS element may include @bsid, @sIpAddr, @dIpAddr, @dport, @PLPID, and/or LS.

The @bsid may be an identifier of a broadcast stream for transmitting a content component of the broadcastAppService. When corresponding attribute is not present, a PLP of a default broadcast stream may transmit an SLS fragment for a corresponding service. The value may be the same as the broadcast_stream_id in the FIT (SLT).

The @sIpAddr may indicate a source IP address. Here, the source IP address may be a source IP address of a ROUTE session for transmitting a service component included in a corresponding service. As described above, service components included in one service may be transmitted through a plurality of ROUTE session. Accordingly, the service component may be transmitted to other ROUTE sessions, but not to a ROUTE session for transmitting the corresponding S-TSID. Accordingly, in order to indicate a source IP address of the ROUTE session, the present field may be used. A default value of the present field may be a source IP address of a current ROUTE session. When a service component transmitted through other ROUTE sessions is present and thus the ROUTE session needs to be indicated, a value of the present field may be a source IP address value of the ROUTE session. In this case, the present field may be M, that is, a required field.

The @dIpAddr may indicate a destination IP address. Here, the destination IP address may be a destination IP address of a ROUTE session for transmitting a service component included in a corresponding service. For cases such as the case described with regard to the @sIpAddr, the present field may indicate a destination IP address of a ROUTE session for transmitting a service component. A default value of the present invention may be a destination IP address of a current ROUTE session. When a service component transmitted through other ROUTE sessions is present and thus the ROUTE session needs to be indicated, a value of the present field may be a destination IP address of the ROUTE session. In this case, the present field may be M, that is, a required field.

The @dport may indicate a destination port. Here, the destination port may be a destination port of a ROUTE session for transmitting a service component included in a corresponding service. For cases such as the case described with regard to the @sIpAddr, the present field may indicate a destination port of a ROUTE session for transmitting a service component. A default value of the present field may be a destination port number of a current ROUTE session. When a service component transmitted through other ROUTE sessions is present and thus the ROUTE session needs to be indicated, a value of the present field may be a destination port number value of the ROUTE session. In this case, the present field may be M, that is, a required field.

The @PLPID may be an ID of a PLP for a ROUTE session represented by RS. A default value may be an ID of an LCT session included in a current S-TSID. In some embodiments, the present field may have a value of an ID value of a PLP for an LCT session for transmitting the in a corresponding ROUTE session and may have ID values of all PLPs for a corresponding ROUTE session. Information such as the @PLPID may be included in signaling transmitted through a link layer and transmitted to a receiver.

The LS element may have information about an LCT session for transmitting corresponding service data items. Since service data and service components can be transmitted through a plurality of LCT sessions, the present element may have numbers of 1 to N.

The LS element may include @tsi, @PLPID, @bw, @startTime, @endTime, SrcFlow, and/or RprFlow.

The @tsi may indicate a TSI value of an LCT session for transmitting a service component of a corresponding service.

The @PLPID may have ID information of a PLP for a corresponding LCT session. The value may be overwritten by a basic ROUTE session value.

The @bw may indicate a maximum bandwidth value. The @startTime may indicate a short time of a corresponding LCT session. The @endTime may indicate an end time of a corresponding LCT session. The SrcFlow element may describe a source flow of ROUTE. The RprFlow element may describe a repair flow of ROUTE.

The proposed default values may be varied according to an embodiment. The “use” column illustrated in the figure relates to each field. Here, M may denote an essential field, O may denote an optional field, OD may denote an optional field having a default value, and CM may denote a conditional essential field. 0 . . . 1 to 0 . . . N may indicate the number of available fields.

The MS element may include @versionNumber information, @bsid information, @sIpAddr information, @dIpAddr information, @dport information, @packetId information, @PLPID information, @bw information, @startTime information, and/or @endTime information.

The MS element may be an element including an MMTP session. Information included in the MS element may be included in an MMT signaling message and transmitted.

The @versionNumber information may be information indicating a version number of an MMTP protocol used in an MMTP session.

The @bsid information may be information indicating an identifier of a broadcast stream for transmitting content components.

The @sIpAddr information may be information indicating a source IP address of a packet for transmitting a content component.

The @dIpAddr information may be information indicating a destination IP address of a packet for transmitting a content component.

The @dport information may be information indicating a destination port number of a packet for transmitting a content component.

The @packetId information may be information indicating an MMTP packet_id for transmitting an MMT signaling message of the MMTP session.

The @PLPID information may be information for identifying a PLP for an MMTP session. The @PLPID information may be included in signaling transmitted through a link layer.

The @bw information may be information indicating a maximum bandwidth for an MMTP session.

The @startTime information may be information indicating a start time of an MMTP session.

The @endTime information may be information indicating an end time of an MMTP session.

Hereinafter, media presentation description (MPD) for ROUTE/DASH will be described.

The MPD may be a SLS metadata fragment (e.g., one TV program during a predetermined period or a combination of consecutive linear TV programs) including formulated description of DASH media presentation corresponding to a linear service of duration determined by a broadcaster. Convent of the MPD may provide context of a resource identified in media presentation and a source identifier of a fragment. A data structure and semantics of MPD segment may be conformable to MPD defined by the MPEG DASH.

One or more DASH representation transmitted from the MPD may be transmitted on broadcast. The MPD may describe additional representation transmitted in a broadband like in a hybrid service or support service continuity in handoff to broadcast from broadcast due to degradation (e.g., driving in a tunnel) of a broadcast signal.

FIG. 71 is a diagram illustrating ATSC_physical_layer_pipe_identifier_descriptor( ) according to an embodiment of the present invention.

When MMTP sessions are used in order to transmit an ATSC3.0 streaming service, an MMT signaling message may be transmitted by the MMPT according to a signaling message mode defined in the ISO/IEC 23008-1. Each MMTP session may transmit an MMT signaling message and components and packets for transmitting the MMT signaling may be signaled by an MS element in an S-TSID fragment.

As defined in the ISO/IEC 23008-1, the MMT signaling message may include PA, MPI, MPT, and HRBM messages, and an MP table in the MMT signaling message may transmit asset location information for ATSC3.0 service components. In this case, the illustrated ATSC_physical_layer_pipe_identifier_descriptor( ) may be transmitted as asset_descriptor( ) of an MP table. When ATSC_physical_layer_pipe_identifier_descriptor( ) is not shown, an asset may be t transmitted through the same PLP as a PLP indicated by the MS@PLPID information in the S-TSID fragment.

The ATSC_physical_layer_pipe_identifier_descriptor( ) may include descriptor_tag information, descriptor_length information, and/or PLP_id information.

The descriptor_tag information may be information for identifying the descriptor.

The descriptor_length information may be information that is included in a descriptor and indicates a size (size) of information items subsequent to the information.

The PLP_id information may be information indicating an identifier of a PLP including MMTP packets for an asset described by the descriptor.

FIG. 72 is a diagram illustrating a hierarchical signaling structure of an ATSC3.0 system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The drawing illustrates the case in which two S-TSID instances are transmitted through ROUTE. A first S-TSID may provide access information for LCT sessions included in ROUTE session #1. The ROUTE session #1 may transmit content components of service_X. A second S-TSID may provide access information for LCT sessions included in ROUTE session #N, and the ROUTE session #N may transmit content components of service_Y.

A receiver may acquire LCT sessions for transmitting components for respective services using information items included in the aforementioned S-TSID fragment.

Prior to the aforementioned procedure for acquiring a component of a service, the receiver may scan services.

FIG. 73 is a diagram illustrating flow of a rapid channel scan operation according to an embodiment of the present invention.

According to an order of numbers illustrated in the drawing, the rapid channel scan operation may be performed.

First, a tuner in a receiver may scan frequencies using a predefined frequency list.

Second, the tuner may be on standby to receive a signal for each frequency.

Third, upon detecting a signal from one frequency, a baseband processor may extract an FIT and transmit the FIT to a middleware module.

Fourth, the middleware module may transmit the FIT to a FIT parser.

Fifth, the FIT parser may parse data of the FIT to extract information. Even if FITs having the same version number is present in a receiver in a last scan procedure, re-performance of a parsing procedure may be a most excellent processing procedure in terms of stability. This is because a version number may exceed a maximum number to return to an initial version number and an FIT that accidently has the same version number as a previous FIT is frequently transmitted. In a scenario in which a FIT is not updated, the receiver may initialize a version number of the FIT.

Sixth, information extracted from the FIT may be stored in a channel map (database or storage).

FIG. 74 is a diagram illustrating flow of an entire channel scanning operation according to an embodiment of the present invention.

When a receiver performs entire scan on service signaling (USBD or USD) for each service, the receiver may store or acquire more abundant information. For example, a longer service name may be acquired from the USD and may be matched with a service_id value in the USD and the FIT to store the name as a name of a corresponding service in a channel map.

A procedure of entire scan of a service may be performed as follows according to an order of numbers illustrated in the drawing.

First, a tuner in a receiver may scan frequencies using a predefined frequency list.

Second, the tuner may be on standby to receive a signal for each frequency.

Third, upon detecting a signal from one frequency, a baseband processor may extract an FIT and transmit the FIT to a middleware module.

Fourth, the receiver may check whether a FIT_version is new or not. Even if FITs having the same version number is present in a receiver in a last scan procedure, re-performance of a parsing procedure may be a most excellent processing procedure in terms of stability. This is because a version number may exceed a maximum number to return to an initial version number and an FIT that accidently has the same version number as a previous FIT is frequently transmitted. When the version is new, the middleware module may collect FITs and transmit the FITs to an FIT parser.

Fifth, the FIT parser may parse data of the FIT to extract information. Even if FITs having the same version number is present in a receiver in a last scan procedure, re-performance of a parsing procedure may be a most excellent processing procedure in terms of stability.

Sixth, information extracted from the FIT may be stored in a channel map (database or storage).

Seventh, the receiver may obtain SLS bootstrapping information from the FIT.

Eighth, the receiver may transmit SLS bootstrapping information to a ROUTE client.

Ninth, the receiver may perform signaling filtering to obtain and store USD in order to the USD from the SLS.

Tenth, a signaling parser may parser the USD. Here, even if SLSs having the same version number is present in a receiver in a last scan procedure, re-performance of a parsing procedure may be a most excellent processing procedure in terms of stability. This is because a version number may exceed a maximum number to return to an initial version number and a SLS that accidently has the same version number as a previous SLS is frequently transmitted.

Eleventh, the receiver may perform mapping with a service_id and update a channel map.

FIG. 75 is a diagram illustrating a procedure for acquiring a service in pure broadcast according to an embodiment of the present invention.

When video and audio segments are transmitted through a pure broadcast having one ROUTE session, service acquisition using service signaling may be performed in the following order.

First, USD, S-TSID, and MPD may be acquired and parsed together. All tables may be required for service acquisition.

Then, representation for presentation may be selected. In this case, the S-TSID needs to be checked in order to determine representations to be transmitted through a broadcast network.

Then, the receiver may transmit information to a segment acquisition module for providing user preference using corresponding signaling from signaling (USD, S-TSID, and MPD). For example, a user may prefer Spanish audio to English audio. In this case, information related to user preference may be stored in the receiver, and a component of a service provided in Spanish preferred by the user may be selected using the information and information related to an audio language in the USD, the S-TSID, and/or MPD.

Then, the segment acquisition module may determine a component transmitted through a broadcast stream using information described in the USD. The segment acquisition module may acquire information about where the component is acquired, using the USD. When a DASH client request one segment from an internal proxy server, the internal proxy server needs to know whether the internal proxy server requests a corresponding segment from a remote broadband server or (when there is no corresponding segment) the internal proxy server is on standby until the corresponding segment appears in a broadcast stream. The USD may describe multicast “base patterns” and unicast “base patterns” in a deliveryMethod element. The proxy server may check whether the unicast base patterns or the multicast base patterns are substring to a URL provided by a DASH player and may be operated according to the result.

Then, in the case of pure broadcast, the receiver may know a place in which components can be acquired without any deliveryMethod element in the USD.

FIG. 76 is a diagram illustrating a procedure for acquiring a service through a plurality of ROUTE sessions in pure broadcast according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The plurality of ROUTE sessions may be used to transmit data or components included in one service. In this case, the S-TSID may include additional ROUTE session information required to access all representations by a receiver.

Referring to the drawing, the receiver may receive a FIT and acquire an SLS for a specific service. The receiver may acquire the S-TSID for providing information about an allocated ROUTE session/LCT session of a corresponding service with reference to information of the USD in the acquired SLS. The S-TSID may indicate that components of service #1 are transmitted by ROUTE session #1 and ROUTE session #2. The receiver may refer to information about ROUTE session #2 as well as information about ROUTE session #1 to be contained in the S-TSID in order to acquire components of service #1.

FIG. 77 is a diagram illustrating a procedure for bootstrapping electronic service guide (ESG) through a broadband network according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Bootstrapping of the ESG may be signaled through a broadband. Referring to the embodiment, all ESG data may be transmitted through a broadband. Accordingly, ESG broadcast bootstrapping information in the FIT may be replaced by ESG broadband bootstrapping information. For example, a URL_type of the inet_signaling_location_descriptor( ) may indicate whether a type of a URL is an ESG or not.

Referring to the drawing, the receiver may previously acquire the FIT and may parse the inet_signaling_location_descriptor( ) in the FIT. As described above, the inet_signaling_location_descriptor( ) may provide a URL of a server for providing the ESG and the receiver may access the URL to acquire ESG data through a broadband.

FIG. 78 is a diagram illustrating a procedure for acquiring a service through broadcast and broadband according to an embodiment of the present invention.

When two or more audio components with different languages are transmitted through different paths, one component may be transmitted through a broadband network and the other one component may be transmitted through a broadband network. In this case, the S-TSID may include information for describing all broadband components such that a ROUTE client acquires desired components. In addition, when a DASH client issues request for a segment, the USD may include URL patterns for a broadcast network and URL patterns for a broadband network such that a receiver middleware describes segments to be transmitted and a path through the segments are transmitted. In this case, the middleware may know a segment to be requested from a remote broadband server and a segment to be searched for from a broadcast network.

Referring to the drawing, the receiver may acquire the FIT from a broadcast signal and receive an SLS for a specific service using information in the FIT. The receiver may know that each component is transmitted through a broadcast network and a broadcast network for a corresponding service using information in the USD (or USBD) in the SLS. For example, an English audio component for a corresponding service may be transmitted through a broadcast network and a Spanish audio component may be transmitted through a broadband network. The USD may include base pattern information used to acquire an English audio component transmitted through a broadcast network and may also include base pattern information used to acquire a Spanish audio component transmitted through a broadband network. The English audio component may be acquired using information in the USD and information in the S-TSID, and the Spanish audio component may be acquired using information in the USD from an external server. The receiver may perform a switching operation between the English audio component and the Spanish audio component using the information of the MPD.

FIG. 79 is a diagram illustrating signaling for an operation for changing reception of a service between broadcast and a broadband according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The receiver may change reception to a broadband network from a broadcast network or to a broadcast network from a broadband network. The receiver may use signaling information included in the USD in this procedure. The USD may include information about components to be transmitted through a broadcast network or a broadband network. If possible, the receiver middleware may receive through a broadcast network or there is a problem in reception through a broadcast network, a component may be acquired through a broadband network.

Referring to the drawing, the receiver may parse an FIT and an SLS and parse USD in the SLS. The USD may indicate that a video component and an audio component included in a service are transmitted through a broadcast network and a broadband network and may include base pattern information required to receive a corresponding component in each of a broadcast network and a broadband network. The receiver may acquire a component through any one path according to the quality of a broadcast network or broadband network connected to the receiver using information in the USD. Change between components that are transmitted through the broadcast network and the broadband network, respectively, may be performed using information in the MPD by the receiver.

FIG. 80 is a diagram illustrating signaling of receiver capability information according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As described above, some or all fragments of SLS may include information indicating capability of a receiver, which is required to significantly present a specific service or components.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, a scalable coding scheme needs to be applied to a service or a component and a receiver needs to process the data to which the scalable coding is applied.

First, in the embodiment of the present invention, the USD may include information about required capability in order to render a service. For example, video resolution may be required capability to decode video. To this end, the USD may have capability such as ‘HD” or “UHD”. This may indicate that a current service or program is provided in the form of HD or UHD. In addition, the USD may include information indicating capability for processing other components such as audio, closed caption, or an available application.

Then, the receiver may know a component for rendering a UHD service or a HD service using information in the MPD. That is, referring to the drawing, @dependencyId in the MPD may include information for identifying representation that is dependent upon representation of video. The receiver may provide HD video using basic video representation (Rv) and provide UHD video additionally using enhanced video representation (Rev).

FIG. 81 is a diagramming illustrating the meaning of a LCT transport object identifier (TOI) field and information included in the field for filtering of a fragment according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In order to rapidly filter signaling fragment using a receiver as a target, the LCT TOI field may be classified into three parts.

A first part may be a fragment type part and may be allocated to the TOI field in order to identify a type of signaling fragment.

A second part may be a fragment type extension part and may be allocated to the TOI field in order to identify a sub type of a fragment. According to an embodiment for allocating a sub type, when a plurality of fragments is transmitted, a type of a fragment of a bit map format included in an object may be identified in order to filter a separate fragment. According to another embodiment for allocating a sub type, when a plurality of instances of a signaling fragment having the same fragment type (e.g., when a plurality of MPDs are present in a boundary between programs), an identifier for an instance may be indicated.

A third part may be a version part and may be allocated to the TOI field in order to indicate a version of an object identified by the fragment type extension part and the fragment type part.

An LCT TOT field according to the present embodiment may be classified into a fragment type part, a fragment type extension part, and/or a version part.

The fragment type part may include a value for identifying a type of service layer signaling for transmitting a current object. For example, when a value of a fragment type part is ‘0x00’, the value may indicate that a bundle of the SLS is transmitted through the object, when a value of the fragment type part is ‘0x01’, the value may indicate that USBD/USD of the SLS is transmitted through the object, when a value of the fragment type part is ‘0x02’, the value may indicate that the S-TSID of the SLS is transmitted through the object, and when a value of the fragment type part is ‘0x03’, the value may indicate that the MPD of the SLS is transmitted through the object.

When the object includes a plurality of fragments, the fragment type extension part may be a bitmap indicating a fragment to be contained. When the object includes one fragment, values for identifying a sub type of a service signaling fragment for more detailed filtering may be allocated to this part. Referring to the drawing, when a fragment type part indicates that a bundle of SLSs is transmitted through one object, whether a specific fragment corresponds to USBD/USD, S-TSID, or MPD according to a value of a fragment type extension type. When the fragment type part identifies a signaling fragment included in one object (when a value of the fragment type part is ‘0x01’ to ‘0x03’), the fragment type extension part may have a hashed value of 16 bits, extracted from a URL of the service layer signaling fragment, the part may be used to filter a fragment having an instance URL before a client assembles an LCT packet.

A version part may indicate a version number of an entire object. When the object includes one fragment, the part may include a version number of a corresponding fragment. When the object includes combinations of fragments, the part may include a version number for an object and accordingly, the case in which a fragment included in the object is changed may be identified. The version number of the object may be increased on 1-by-1 basis whenever a fragment in the object is changed.

When a value of the TOI is 0 or 1, the TOI may be reserved for transmission of the EFDT, and in this case, information of the TOI field may not be used to filter the EFDT. An LCT code point may be identified for a payload type, and a receiver may use the field in order to determine a type of a payload transmitted through an LCT session instead of the TOI value.

FIG. 82 is a diagram illustrating MetadataEnvelope of XML form for applying template-based compression to signaling according to an embodiment of the present invention.

XML signaling fragments described in the present invention may be compressed using a compression tool such as Gzip but may be compressed using a Diff and Path tool via another method. In a Diff and Patch procedure, an XML signaling template may be pre-shared between a sender and a receiver. The procedure may include comparing two XML files, XML signaling template and XML signaling instance and generating output indicating a difference, which is referred to as Diff, between the two XML files by a sender side.

Here, the signaling template may be used by a term indicating a basic structure of a signaling fragment.

Here, the signaling instance may correspond to the aforementioned signaling fragment and may be used as a term indicating signaling fragment including information for a feature service, content, and so on. For example, when the S-TSID is signaling fragment defined for one service, S-TSID fragment transmitted for a specific service may be referred to as an S-TSID instance.

Diff may be encapsulated as a metadata envelope element like a general XML signaling instance. When Diff is generated at the sender side, the Diff may be encapsulated in content of an update element and then may be encapsulated in the metadata envelope. The metadata envelope may be transmitted to a plurality of receivers through a signaling channel. The receiver may receive and check the metadata envelope and check whether the metadata envelope element include a diffUpdate element. When the diffUpdate element is included in the metadata envelope element, the receiver may recognize that the diffUpdate element needs to be processed in a compression mode.

The receiver may optionally search for a signaling template of metadataURI attribute (SignalingTemplate ID) together with version attribute (SignalingTemplateVersion) from the pre-shared and stored signaling templates. When the corresponding signaling template cannot be discovered, the receiver may attempt to acquire a signaling template having a URL of the SignalingTemplate ID via a GET procedure.

The receiver may apply the transmitted Diff to the acquired signaling template to recover a signaling instance. The signaling fragment may have a pair of version attribute (SignalingInstanceVersion) and metadataURI attribute (SignalingInstanceID). It may be required to transmit only the difference (e.g., an element or added attribute value and changed or deleted content) as an updated portion of a template rather than to transmit a complete file. The receiver may apply the difference to the signaling template to acquire signaling fragments (patch procedure). When the acquired fragment is compared with an original complete fragment and a fragment with a very small difference needs to be transmitted, if compression is performed using a Diff and Patch procedure instead of a conventional compression method, very high efficiency may be achieved for transmission and processing of data.

As described with regard to the 3GPP-MBMS, the metadata envelope and the metadata fragment may be compressed using Gzip. When there is no updating target at a server side, a diff message without Diff may be transmitted to a client such that a client generates a signaling fragment at a position in which instantiation of a signaling fragment is required. The diff message without Diff may be frequently transmitted and accordingly, the receiver may periodically check signaling fragments.

Diff may be defined in the form of XML and may include content about a changed portion of information and/or an element of the aforementioned signaling fragment. The metadata envelope including Diff may include information for identifying a signaling fragment to which corresponding Diff needs to be applied and/or information indicating a version of a signaling fragment to which the corresponding Diff is applied. A receiver may check a signaling fragment to which Diff is applied using information for identifying a signaling fragment from the metadata envelope and check whether Diff needs to be applied using information indicating a version of signaling fragment to which Diff is applied. When versions are different, the receiver may apply content of Diff to a corresponding signaling fragment to update and store the corresponding signaling fragment.

FIG. 83 is a diagram illustrating a compression procedure of a template-based signaling fragment according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The signaling template fragment may be identified by a URL included in content of the template ID element. The template per se may be fetched and pre-shared through HTTP(s) via a broadband. Upon first obtaining a diff message, the receiver may store the diff message for future use. The template may correspond to a fragment at a specific time point, and the signaling fragment may be generated using a method applied in order to generate an instance to which a subsequent diff message is subsequent. In this case, information for identifying a mode in which a fixed template is used or a mode in which a template is provided as a fragment instance may be included in the signaling.

Referring to the drawing, a sender side may generate signaling and generate a signaling instance (the aforementioned signaling fragment). A sender may compare the generated signaling instance with a pre-transmitted (or pre-stored) signaling instance to generate a diff message including Diff. In a procedure for generating the diff message, the signaling template may be used. The sender may transmit the generated diff message to a receiver side.

The receiver side may receive the diff message and apply Diff included in the corresponding diff message to the signaling template to complete a signaling instance. As described above, according to a mode, the signaling template may be pre-shared or a signaling fragment that the receiver first receives may be used as a template. The receiver side may acquire the aforementioned signaling fragment using the completed signaling instance, according to the present invention. The receiver side may acquire a service using the acquired signaling fragments, as described above.

FIG. 84 is a diagram illustrating broadcast_signaling_location_descriptor( ) according to another embodiment of the present invention.

As described above, the broadcast_signaling_location_descriptor( ) may include information about a bootstrap address for service layer signaling. A receiver may acquire an SLS transmitted for each service using the information about the bootstrap address.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the broadcast_signaling_location_descriptor( ) may include descriptor_tag information, descriptor_length_information, SLS_protocol_type information, IP_version_flag information, SLS_source_IP_address_flag information, SLS_source_IP_address information, SLS_destination_IP_address information, SLS_destination_UDP_port information, SLS_TSI information, SLS_packet_id_flag information, version_number_flag information, start_time_flag information, end_time_flag information, SLS_packet_id information, version_number information, start_time information, end_time information, bandwidth information, and/or SLS_PLP_ID information.

The SLS_protocol_type information may be information indicating a type of a protocol of a channel for transmitting service layer signaling defined at an upper level of UDP/IP. For example, when a value allocated to the SLS_protocol_type information is ‘0x00’, the value may indicate that a type of a protocol used to transmit service layer signaling is not identified, when a value allocated to the SLS_protocol_type information is ‘0x01’, the value may indicate that a type of a protocol used to transmit service layer signaling is ROUTE, and a value allocated to the SLS_protocol_type information is ‘0x02’, the value may indicate that a protocol used to transmit service layer signaling is MMT.

The SLS_source_IP_address information may be information indicating a source IP address of an LCT or MMTP channel for transmitting service layer signaling.

The SLS_destination_IP_address information may be information indicating a destination IP address of an LCT or MMTP channel for transmitting service layer signaling.

The SLS_destination UDP_port information may be information indicating a UDP port number of an LCT or MMTP channel for transmitting service layer signaling.

The SLS_packet_id_flag information may be information for identifying whether SLS_packet_id information is present.

The version_number_flag information may be information for identifying whether version_number information is present.

The start_time_flag information may be information for identifying whether start_time information is present.

The end_time_flag information may be information for identifying whether end_time information is present.

The SLS_packet_id information may be information for identifying a packet of an MMTP channel for transmitting service layer signaling for a service.

The version_number information may be information of a version number of an MMTP used in an MMTP session including an MMTP channel for transmitting service layer signaling.

The start_time information may be information indicating start time of an MMTP session including an MMTP channel of service layer signaling for a service.

The end_time information may be information indicating end time of an MMTP session including an MMTP channel of service layer signaling for a service.

The bandwidth information may be information for identifying a bandwidth allocated for an MMTP session. The bandwidth_flag information may be further included in the descriptor or an SLT and may identify whether the bandwidth information is present.

Details of other information items to be added to the broadcast_signaling_location_descriptor( ) may be substituted with description of information items having the same titles as the above description.

FIG. 85 illustrates a method of providing a broadcast service (transmitting side) according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The method of providing a broadcast service (transmitting side) according to an embodiment of the present invention can include generating streaming components of the broadcast service, generating NRT (Non-Real Time) components of the broadcast service, generating a SLS (Service Layer Signaling), processing into MMT packets based on the MMT protocol, processing into ROUTE packets based on the ROUTE protocol, generating a SLT (Service List Table), processing the SLT/the MMT packets/the ROUTE packets into broadcast signals and/or transmitting the broadcast signals.

First, the first service module of the transmitting side may generate streaming components of a broadcast service. Here, the streaming component may mean the linear service component, audio/video service component, etc. of the broadcast service. Here, the streaming components included in the broadcast service may be generated in a data format such as MPU based on MPEG media transport (MMT) protocol. Here, the first service module may be a hardware block for generating service data based on the MMT protocol.

The second service module may generate NRT components of the above-described broadcast service. The NRT component may be referred to as a locally cached file, a locally cached content item, etc. according to the embodiment. The NRT components may be generated in a format such as a DASH media segment based on ROUTE protocol and may be transmitted based on the ROUTE protocol. The NRT components may include data used to provide app-based enhancement for the above-described broadcast service. As described above, application based supplementary information (enhancement) may be provided to the broadcast service (or the linear service of the broadcast service). Data, content items and files necessary therefor may be delivered to the receiver using the NRT method. According to the embodiment, such data may be transmitted via broadband. The second service module may be a hardware block for generating service data based on the ROUTE protocol.

The third service module may generate an SLS for signaling the broadcast service. Here, the SLS may be delivered based on the MMT protocol. The SLS was described above. The third service module may be a hardware block for generating and managing the SLS for the broadcast service.

The first transport processor may process the above-described streaming components and/or the above-described SLS into MMP packets based on the MMT protocol. That is, in the present embodiment, the MMT protocol may be used to deliver streaming data. The first transport processor may be a hardware block for generating the MMTP packets based on the MMT protocol.

The second transport processor may process the above-described NRT components into ROUTE packets based on the ROUTE protocol. As described above, when service data is delivered in NRT, the service data may be delivered based on the ROUTE protocol. The second transport processor may be a hardware block for generating ROUTE packets based on the ROUTE protocol.

The fourth service module may generate the above-described SLT. As described above, the SLT may include bootstrap information. In the present embodiment, the bootstrap information may indicate an MMTP session for delivering the above-described SLS. The bootstrap information may indicate a transport session using IP/UDP information. The bootstrap information may include the IP address, UDP port number, etc. of the MMTP session. The fourth service module may be a hardware block for generating and managing the SLT for the broadcast service.

The third transport processor may process the above-described SLT, MMT packets and/or ROUTE packets into the broadcast signal. In this process, the third transport processor may perform UDP/IP processing with respect to data and encapsulate the data into IP packets. In addition, after the IP packets are processed into link layer packets, a broadcast signal may be generated via physical processing. Here, the FIC is not used and the SLT is encapsulated into IP packets and is delivered based on a PLP. Link layer processing and physical processing were described above. The third transport processor may be divided into a plurality of detailed modules for managing layers. The transmission unit of the transmitting side may transmit a broadcast signal. This transmission unit may be an antenna, etc.

In a method of providing a broadcast service (transmitting side) according to other embodiment of the present invention, the SLS can include information providing component acquisition information for the streaming components and/or the NRT components. This information may include a USBD and/or MP table as described above.

In a method of providing a broadcast service (transmitting side) according to another embodiment of the present invention, the SLS can further include an AST (Application Signaling Table) that signals the app-based enhancement. The AST was described above.

In a method of providing a broadcast service (transmitting side) according to another embodiment of the present invention, the AST can include at least one application elements providing information about applications of the app-based enhancement. Each of the application elements can include content item elements providing information about the content items of the app-based enhancement. These content item elements may describe information on content item for the above-described app-based enhancement delivered in NRT.

In a method of providing a broadcast service (transmitting side) according to another embodiment of the present invention, the content item elements can include linkage information linking the content items and file delivery description. Here, the file delivery description corresponds to EFDT described above. EFDT can describe information related to file delivery, and can be delivered by S-TSID described above.

In a method of providing a broadcast service (transmitting side) according to another embodiment of the present invention, the SLT can further include URL information for an event table delivering events. The events, as notifications initiating actions to be taken by the applications, are the same as described above. Through this URL information, the receiver may acquire an event table. Here, the event table may correspond to the above-described EMT or AEI. In the present embodiment, the event table may be the AEI.

In a method of providing a broadcast service (transmitting side) according to another embodiment of the present invention, the event table can include plural event elements and an identifier for a time reference. The event elements can include data for the events and/or time information. The time information can indicate presentation time for the events relative to aforementioned time reference. Here, the identifier for the time reference may be a DASH period, representation or a MPU, which is a criterion of the event time. In the present embodiment, an event time may be indicated using the identified MPU as the time reference.

In a method of providing a broadcast service (transmitting side) according to another embodiment of the present invention, the information in the SLS includes an USBD and/or a MMT table. Here, the MMT table may correspond to the above-described MP table or MMT table. The MMT table may provide a transport session description for MMTP sessions for delivering the above-described streaming components. Streaming components may be acquired using the information on the MMT table. The USBD may include a reference for the above-described MMT table and/or a reference for the above-described S-TSID. Other signaling information may be acquired via the USBD. The S-TSID may provide a transport session description for ROUTE sessions for delivering the above-described NRT components. In this case, the S-TSID may be delivered based on the MMT protocol. Even when streaming data is transmitted via the MMPT, NRT components may be acquired using the S-TSID.

A description will be given of a method of providing a broadcast service (receiving side) according to an embodiment of the present invention. This method is not illustrated in the figure.

The method of providing a broadcast service (receiving side) according to the embodiment of the present invention may include a reception unit of a receiving side receiving a broadcast signal, a first reception processor of the receiving side parsing the broadcast signal to acquire an SLT, a second reception processor accessing an MMTP session for delivering an SLS using bootstrap information of the SLT to acquire the SLS, a third reception processor acquiring streaming components of a specific broadcast service using the SLS and/or a fourth reception processor acquiring NRT components of the broadcast service using the SLS. Here, the streaming components may be transmitted via the MMTP session based on the MMT protocol and the NRT components may be transmitted via the ROUTE session based on the ROUTE protocol. The streaming components and the SLS may be received in the form of the MMTP packets and the NRT components may be received in the form of ROUTE packets. The NRT components may include content items for app-based enhancement related to the broadcast service.

The methods of providing the broadcast service (receiving side) according to the embodiments of the present invention may correspond to the above-described methods of providing the broadcast service (transmitting side) according to the embodiments of the present invention. The methods of providing the broadcast service (receiving side) may be performed by hardware modules corresponding to the modules used in the methods of providing the broadcast service (transmitting side) (for example, the first, second, third, fourth service module, the first, second, third transport processor, transmission unit, etc.). The method of providing the broadcast service (receiving side) may have embodiments corresponding to the embodiments of the method of providing the broadcast service (transmitting side) described above.

The above-described steps may be omitted or replaced by other steps for performing the same/similar operations according to embodiment.

FIG. 86 is a diagram illustrating an apparatus for providing a broadcast service (transmitting side) according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The apparatus for providing the broadcast service (transmitting side) according to the embodiment of the present invention may include the first, second, third, fourth service module, the first, second, third transport processor and/or transmission unit described above. The respective blocks/modules have been described above.

The apparatus for providing the broadcast service (transmitting side) according to the embodiment of the present invention and the internal blocks/modules thereof may perform the above-described embodiments of the method of providing the broadcast service (transmitting side) of the present invention.

A description will be given of an apparatus for providing a broadcast service (receiving side) according to an embodiment of the present invention. This apparatus is not illustrated in the figure.

The apparatus for providing the broadcast service (receiving side) according to the embodiment of the present invention may include the receiving unit, the first, second third and/or fourth receiving processor described above. The respective blocks/modules have been described above.

The apparatus for providing the broadcast service (receiving side) according to the embodiment of the present invention and the internal blocks/modules thereof may perform the above-described embodiments of the method of providing the broadcast service (receiving side) of the present invention.

The above-described blocks/modules, etc. inside the apparatus may correspond to processors that execute continuous processes stored in a memory or hardware elements positioned inside/outside the apparatus according to embodiment.

The above-described modules may be omitted or replaced by other modules for performing the same/similar operations according to embodiment.

Modules or units may correspond to processors that execute continuous processes stored in a memory (or a storage unit). The respective steps described in the above-described embodiments may be performed by hardware/processors. The respective modules/blocks/units described in the above embodiments may operate as hardware/processors. In addition, the methods proposed in the present invention may be executed as codes. These codes may be written in a processor-readable storage medium, and thus may be read by a processor provided by an apparatus.

Even though the respective drawings have been separately described for convenience of description, embodiments described in the respective drawings may be merged into a new embodiment. In addition, designing of a computer-readable recording medium in which a program for executing the above-described embodiments according to necessity of a person skilled in the art is within the scope of the present invention.

Referring to the apparatuses and methods according to the present invention, configurations and methods of the embodiments are not restrictively applicable, and all or some of the above-described embodiments may be selectively combined and configured such that the embodiments can be variously changed

Meanwhile, the methods proposed in the present invention may be implemented as processor-readable code stored in a processor-readable recording medium included in a network device. The processor-readable recording medium includes all types of recording devices in which processor-readable data is stored. Examples of the processor-readable recording medium include a ROM, a RAM, a CD-ROM, a magnetic tape, a floppy disk, an optical data storage device, etc. In addition, the examples include a carrier-wave type implementation such as a transmission over the Internet. Furthermore, as the processor-readable recording medium is distributed to a computer system connected via a network, processor-readable code can be saved and executed in a distributed manner.

Further, even though preferred embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described, the present invention is not restricted to a certain embodiment described above, and various modifications and variations can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the subject matter of the present invention as defined by the claims. Furthermore, these modified embodiments should not be understood separately from the spirit or scope of the present invention.

Both apparatus and method inventions are mentioned in this specification and descriptions of both the apparatus and method inventions may be complementarily applicable to each other.

It should be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made in the present invention within the spirit or scope of the present invention. Therefore, the present invention is intended to include changes and modifications of the present invention within the scope of accompanying claims and equivalents thereof.

Both apparatus and method inventions are mentioned in this specification and descriptions of both the apparatus and method inventions may be complementarily applicable to each other.

Various embodiments have been described in best modes.

The present invention is used in a series of broadcast signal provision fields.

It is clear to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made in the present invention within the spirit or scope of the present invention. Therefore, the present invention is intended to include changes and modifications of the present invention within the scope of accompanying claims and equivalents thereof. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of providing a broadcast service, the method comprising: generating streaming components of the broadcast service, the streaming components are delivered in MMT (MPEG Media Transport) protocol; generating NRT (Non-Real Time) components of the broadcast service, the NRT components are delivered in ROUTE (Real-Time Object Delivery over Unidirectional Transport) protocol; generating a SLS (Service Layer Signaling) that signals the broadcast service; processing the streaming components and the SLS into MMT packets based on the MMT protocol; processing the NRT components into ROUTE packets based on the ROUTE protocol; generating a SLT (Service List Table) including bootstrap information, the bootstrap information indicating a MMTP session carrying the SLS; processing the SLT, the MMT packets and the ROUTE packets into broadcast signals; and transmitting the broadcast signals, wherein the NRT components include content items for an app-based enhancement related to the broadcast service.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the SLS includes information providing component acquisition information for the streaming components and the NRT components.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the SLS further includes an AST (Application Signaling Table) that signals the app-based enhancement.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the AST includes at least one application elements providing information about applications of the app-based enhancement, each of the application elements includes content item elements providing information about the content items of the app-based enhancement.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the content item elements include linkage information linking the content items and file delivery description delivered by a S-TSID (Service-based Transport Session Instance Description).
 6. The method of claim 3, wherein the SLT further includes URL information for an event table delivering events, the events initiating actions to be taken by the applications.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the event table includes plural event elements and an identifier for a time reference, wherein the event elements include data for the events and time information indicating presentation time for the events relative to the time reference.
 8. The method of claim 5, wherein the information in the SLS includes an USBD (User Service Bundle Description) and a MMT table, the MMT table providing transport session descriptions for MMTP sessions carrying the streaming components, the USBD including a reference to the MMT table and a reference to the S-TSID, the S-TSID providing transport session descriptions for ROUTE sessions carrying the NRT components.
 9. An apparatus for providing a broadcast service, the apparatus comprising: a first service module that generates streaming components of the broadcast service, the streaming components are delivered in MMT (MPEG Media Transport) protocol; a second service module that generates NRT (Non-Real Time) components of the broadcast service, the NRT components are delivered in ROUTE (Real-Time Object Delivery over Unidirectional Transport) protocol; a third service module that generates a SLS (Service Layer Signaling) that signals the broadcast service; a first transport processor that processes the streaming components and the SLS into MMT packets based on the MMT protocol; a second transport processor that processes the NRT components into ROUTE packets based on the ROUTE protocol; a fourth service module that generates a SLT (Service List Table) including bootstrap information, the bootstrap information indicating a MMTP session carrying the SLS; a third transport processor that processes the SLT, the MMT packets and the ROUTE packets into broadcast signals; and a transmission unit that transmits the broadcast signals, wherein the NRT components include content items for an app-based enhancement related to the broadcast service.
 10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the SLS includes information providing component acquisition information for the streaming components and the NRT components.
 11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the SLS further includes an AST (Application Signaling Table) that signals the app-based enhancement.
 12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the AST includes at least one application elements providing information about applications of the app-based enhancement, each of the application elements includes content item elements providing information about the content items of the app-based enhancement.
 13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the content item elements include linkage information linking the content items and file delivery description delivered by a S-TSID (Service-based Transport Session Instance Description).
 14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the SLT further includes URL information for an event table delivering events, the events initiating actions to be taken by the applications.
 15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the event table includes plural event elements and an identifier for a time reference, wherein the event elements include data for the events and time information indicating presentation time for the events relative to the time reference. 